I mean I really enjoyed Ch5 and I was looking forward for this one. This dev really know how to make good NTS scenes, the text, talks, scenes when focused on this aspect are amazing (just look at the table scene at the club from Ch5 and the photoshoot this chapter to agree with that).
But now Circle instead of going further in what they know how to make with mastery, they devolved into harem. I really don't want this game to feel like SOA, where NTS scenes will end up having no weight.
Dude you know how to write really good stuff, your scenes have great quality, stick to it and you'll be delivering something with much more quality, we don't need another NTS turned to swinging turned to harem AI game here. Just like the phone ai games, this formula is already getting saturated and uninteresting. Not every girl in your game as to fuck the MC.
I realize I'm probably just being selfish here, but I fully agree with the harem bit. Not every girl has to be drooling over MC, and I think it would be especially hot if there were characters (especially girls) who clearly dislike MC, who then used that dynamic to get Vi into "activities" without Eric being there, almost out of spite. That's why I kinda dug the way the Vi photoshoot scene was handled though; it takes a bit of that MC-centric lens away and gives Vi a bit more of her own agenda (besides just "hoo I wonder what Eric will think, I only want to do this because he wants me to").
I say it's selfish though because...I get it, I guess. I reckon "harem" as a genre is so popular because a lot of guys who play these games just by default insert themselves into the MC, and they all want a harem of sluts just hanging onto their dicks (or something). Basic fantasy fulfilment = happy brain chemicals. For me, it gets a bit tiring and boring to have everything be on MC's terms, and I love spontaneity, especially when somebody in a relationship makes their own choices, out of their own desires, even if it ends up being a "mistake" and it leads to fallout.
Overall I thought this chapter a good one. I can really see the dev getting better every chapter, specially regarding art/animations.
Three negatives points imo:
I kinda can't disagree about Anya, even though I
really want to not care about that. Then again, I get it, we've had Anya secretly thirsting over MC since, what, the beginning? I think the scene being cut off because "oops it's in public hehe" was the developer sort of realizing it was maybe progressing too fast, but I dunno, sometimes people just let themselves go in the throes of passion. I personally think a quick (perhaps slightly regretful) BJ in a dressing room as a spur-of-the-moment thing would have been hotter, but I understand why it didn't happen (and why it shouldn't).
Also, I was thinking about the wig thing, as it might have been meant to hide Vi's identity (especially because she mentioned something earlier in the update about people recognizing her), if the BJ was photographed/filmed or whatever. Then again, the game could have played around this, because...it's Vi sending the photos. It would have been even hotter (in my opinion) if we actually got to see Vi sucking Luke's dick, with her normal hair, and then
later on, Eric maybe finds out extra footage of Vi on one of the websites, and in
that video, she's wearing the wig; showing that she didn't show Eric and Ari the actual footage that was shot, and the pictures that they got...were behind the scenes photos that she took herself, of her own accord, just to show them.
I dunno, there's a dozen different ways to do the photoshoot scene. I read something about a DLC that shows more of the photoshoot, and I low-key can't wait to see how it's done in there. I need to see more of that photoshoot either way,
unless it ends up being "the girl in the wig isn't Vi". Everything else is gucci though.
VI just sucks off the first guy he sees with a dick, just like that, without even discussing it with Eric. He just did something behind his back and that's it, and he doesn't even care, without even talking to him about this possibility. What kind of progression is this, going from 0 to 100 out of nowhere? This is much more NTR than NTS. Where's
SymbioticLife, who said this would always be NTS and never NTR? I know you said it could be more hardcore NTS, but for me and many others, what happened was pure NTR, and to have more hardcore NTS, there has to be evolution, not just happen out of nowhere with the first guy she sees, especially since they are still starting out and not at an advanced stage.
She gave Sai a handjob, and they've been dancing around wanting to see Vi be more slutty for 6 fucking chapters. You guys are so weird and fragile with some mystical slow burn that should happen with Vi actually finally, what, using her mouth instead of her hands? It's weird you're even playing NTS games when any action the girl takes (oh, and let's not pretend it matters what Eric does, and how much consent and affirmation and confirmation he gets from Vi before doing anything with any girls, which is, uhh...none IIRC) should be preceded with, what, Vi getting on her knees and grovelling at Eric to please, Eric, dear future hubby, to let me briefly touch mine tongue upon this guy's dick? It's baffling to me that people seek out NTS games, and then have this kind of a reaction to, uh oh, something actually finally happening after 6 chapters of build-up.