Nice art style and good looking game. I tried it after playing the first one and liking it. It was overall a nice and wholesome game. My feelings for Nanako kinda fizzled a bit when i saw she wasn't a person that i thought had good priorities and values. For a supposed wholesome game, it took me by surprise big time.
Examples: The day she was supposed to have a date with the MC and she got tricked into the date with the rich asshole. She should have called the MC right away and refused him. Instead of fighting for the MC, she does the date with him and didn't even back down when the second rapist shows up. After everything that happened and was discussed, like that he already tried to force himself on her, when she gets rescued, she cant even get away from him and hide behind other friends, she just stay besides him and doesn't even seems happy the MC punched him to save her. Then back at MC apartment, she tells the MC right in his face that she would have went with him, (to get double teamed raw) not to offend both families. Not a single care about humiliating the MC. If i could, i would have ended it with her right there and demanded a transfer to never see her again. On the other hand, if it wasn't consensual , and the drinks were drugged as implied after the doctor visit, she could have told her parents that he was trying to drug her and rape her with some other dude (the group was witnesses) and made a police report to get rid of him and embarrass his family, but she decided to stay quiet. The audacity, after all the complaining, opening up to you, telling you she was so much into getting attention that she was on the verge to sleep with him even tough she didn't like him and loosing her friends for that reason and she still would have went back to her ex without a single act to stop him or oppose him because she craved more his attention and family status quo than the MC's attention and love and her friends that she just had gotten back on good terms with. Even mores o, i guarantee you it was him calling her, not her parents changing sites many times. Cancel the parent dinner was ok for the date, but cant cancel the ex for said date. That made me honestly loose a lot of interest since it went against what i feel was the main love story.
Another example at the end, when the bigger chick basically ask her for a 3some, but only the 3 chicks, like the game imply they did in college. If not for the married chick being faithful, she totally would have done it, she wanted it. While Her and the MC were married, and she was pregnant. At this point, i was like, yeah she is not as great of a person she seems to want to be and she doesn't respect the MC by her actions and i was kinda happy it was almost the end. More of that type of behavior would have disappointed me even more.
I also dislike that we are forced to cuck the dude at the end. I didn't want him to even have the chance to see her naked, let alone jerking off to her getting plowed. I would have liked to have the choice, either proceed as per the game, or they see the guy coming, they dress up and just make him go away when showed she's pregnant. Also, where were the parents after that? They gat married, get a kid and we never hear from them again, if they approved of the MC, if Nanako abandoned them.
I still finished the game as it was enjoyable for the majority of it, but those Nanako scenes soured the experience enough for me to not replay it again at a later date. (i am not against those type of scenes or events in general, but in a wholesome game with a single LI where its mostly about the MC and the LI development, after reading for like 6 hours, it just felt wrong and disappointing to me to me)
Hi, thanks for playing the story, I'm sorry if some things soured your experience. I will try to answer some of these things, mainly from my own design/narrator perspective. But before that, I'd like to point out that you might have misread this part.
she tells the MC right in his face that she would have went with him, (to get double teamed raw) not to offend both families
She never said of going with those guys. She said that if her friends or MC did not come to see her, she still would get away from them herself. Nanako has her own autonomy.
Next, most of these things boil down to 2 things: saving face, and characters being themselves. Most of Nanako's decisions were her trying to walk the line of saving face. It's a cultural thing. I experience this as well, and although many of us Asians do not experience the level experienced by Nanako, it does exist, and I know friends who go through that walking-the-egg-shells situation to save face, especially when tiger parents are involved. Some families are powerful, if you point out their faults, it is considered shaming them, and if your family has business interests with them, they can make your life difficult.
One subtle example, why didn't Nanako seem happy when MC punches Isamu? From experience, I had never seen a woman or friend happy when a confrontation happens, they would tug your arms to get away from the situation. Secondly, Nanako is worried for the MC, punching Isamu might get the MC into legal troubles.
As for Nanako "not being a good person" or "person of good morals"... she is never intended to be that way. She is written as just a regular person, with her own weaknesses. She is a good coworker, but has her own desire, for example she wants to have sex with the person she likes (MC), she has her own kinks (having sex with the person she likes to make the person she hates become envious).
She can be selfish, she is not a virgin, she has her own dating history, she wants to rebel against her tiger parents and the filial morality they set for her, and many other humanely desires. She is just a regular person, not necessarily an angel striving for good morale standing.
Even mores o, i guarantee you it was him calling her, not her parents changing sites many times. Cancel the parent dinner was ok for the date, but cant cancel the ex for said date.
I'm not really sure about this interpretation. I hope in my next work, my writing is clearer to avoid misunderstandings about the narrative in my story.
I do agree about the closure with the parents, though. At first, I intentionally left it ambiguous, as a symbolism to tiger parents: absent emotionally but has domineering presence. But, several players, including yourself, told me they'd like a more direct ending with the parents. After some thoughts, I understood why they want a clearer ending. I'm sorry for this part.
Players have their own interpretations, which I understand, and their interpretations might be different from what I intended. It could be for many reasons, including my own writing errors as well. I appreciate your critique, please wish me the best to fix this weakness in my next VN.
But, also, I like to write my characters in a grounded way. They are not 100% realistic, and they are sexualized in some levels (because this is an adult erotic series), but at the same time, they are written from my personal experience, which could also be vastly different from others. I don't write things that I don't know or have experienced in some ways.
A wholesome-themed story does not equal innocence or pure good morals.
I appreciate your critique, I trust that it was made in good spirits. Sorry for my late response, as my hands are full with my next VN. Cheers!
