I'm not playing the game, but I hope you don't mind me giving my reasoning here.
I played the first or second version of the game (not really sure, but it was at its beginnings) and thought it was too grindy. By that, I mean, I thought it was confusing, very difficult to handle things and without rewards worth it (read: sex).
Are you aware of LOP (Lesson of Passion)'s games? They had a phase where they focused a lot on making status-building kind of games and I thought the gameplay was getting in the way of their stories and sex scenes. On their most recent games, I believe they created a nice balance between them: gameplay that becomes easier as you get to play and get the handle of it, becoming more logic as time passes and not getting in the way of the story. So, reaching the sex scenes stopped feeling like a pain in the ass and started feeling like a reward.
My answer to your second question is, yes, I do prefer a VN. But, I consider VNs to be games because of how the routes system works, like in Japanese VNs.
With all that said, I thought the story was intriguing, the characters interesting and the art gorgeous. I'm still keeping an eye on this, but I'm waiting for it to reach a phase where I feel I can try to get past the gameplay to reach my objective: the sex scenes between the girls and other guys. This game has corruption and women cheating, so I'm patiently waiting for it to reach this stage before giving it another try.
Well thank you for the thought out and reasoned response.
A quick touch on two things before I get into it, not that I want to make this a really big post. I do that too much. 1) If you haven't played the game's latest yet, its still fine to speak up I think, as long as you have a general idea on what the topic is as it its all helpful, so cheers for sure. 2) I didn't mean to imply that VN's aren't games, and really I don't think that discussion needs to be had. You opinion is as valid as my own there, but when I make the distinction I mean it as short hand for gameplay / strategy rather than just choice based play. S'all good though.
Your analogy to LoP is something to think about for sure. My post above is in part an explanation, but also me thinking a little out loud where I can see it. Previously we've discussed in this thread about the gameplay and how it could be improved, mostly with the focus on clarity of what each item/attitude does and also in the pacing of the unlocking of scenes. That's the "grindy" I came to be trying to reduce, the slow feeling of progress etc. We've been making strides on that front as versions go on, but also as we have more chance to add to the pool of gameplay outcomes (eg, the Entertain option is still yet to come and most jobs have only 2-3 outcome each right now, but that'll be constantly improving).
However, now it seems the more we resolve that aspect, the more the issue is shifting to being less about the pace of progress, but now more of a disconnect between understanding of the mechanics and the actual outcomes you get (leaving aside the actual sex content rewards for the next paragraph). As above, I tried laying out the question of if it's being more that people get what they should be doing and are trying to put in a strategy but it seems to them they have little actual effect on the outcomes? I'd say that's progress in terms of an gameplay system from a few versions ago, but not quite good enough yet. If that's the more prominent problem as of now, that's good that I understand it better as players see it, and I can work better on bridging that divide... So from y'all point of view, is this closer to what you feel when you play the game?
Scene content wise v0.7 was to wrap up and tie in some things we had set up to come (Kelsey joining in mostly, as well as pulling in more details for the girls OSes) and that are prerequisites for soon to come stuff. As you pointed out, more sex and more reward of that kind would help grease the wheels of the gameplay a bit and make it worth doing more. We're already resolved to making versions from v0.8 on focused more on single arcs so we can get more in faster, but I don't think that's the panacea the game needs, even though it'll be a big help. It's good to know that we don't need to throw the baby out with the bath water when it comes to improving the experience overall though...
Back to your point about the LoP games. I am aware of them yes. I used to enjoy their older game quite a lot actually. Some of their old style of development might well have inspired some of my own stuff subconsciously. I admit I've not played all that much of their more recent stuff, but as you point out I do notice a kind of evolution they had between say Jordan/Tori 500 through to Living With Temptation and such. It's something to think on for sure.
Cheers again for the thoughts and compliments... Let's see if by the time we get the first character's arc beyond where Brad has his (v0.8-v0.9), maybe even two or 3 guys as the differnt kinds of playstyles get fed evenily, it'll be a better experience for it...