I don't want to dispute Evakiss' development tactics or pretend to be wise as to how she should do things, I have no idea how she works, but it still stands out to me.
I feel you. When I first played this Chapter, it seemed to me very short in the Narrative department, because I wasn't on the paths that were the focus
(Cindy, Robert and Jeremy). I got my worth from the update with Ian x Lena, Lena x Louise, Ian x Alison and Ian x Holly (though I had to cut the night short because it feels wrong not being honest with Holly before committing to anything).
But unfortunately, it's the price to pay for the ever-branching storyline. Earlier updates felt more content-packed and had more playtime because they were mostly linear, where you could only make some binary choices resulting in slightly different scenes. Starting from Chapter 2, however, the narrative started weaving its webbings, and then one update you get what you want, and the other feels a bit empty and non-eventful. But there's nothing you can do about it, really, if you want to keep to your main selling point of player choice and branching story-lines and don't have the AAA budget. GGGB in its late development suffered from the same problem, Eva had to focus on some paths one update while ignoring the others, and the next update focus on another path, etc. I'm sure having more than 2 months for development would allow her to write different stories and have
some content for those currently not looking for anything sexual. Perhaps they could focus on their work more, like Ashley could if she wanted to go the business route while waiting for Eric (or even being single).
The finished game is surely going to feel different, of course. I'll still highlight this quote from Evakiss' patreon:
"This time around you play as two characters, Lena and Ian as they attempt to find themselves, chase their dreams and seek love or lust in accordance with your guiding hand."
In accordance to my guiding hand I have yet to find either.
Hopefully that will come within any of these next chapters though. I'm not dissatisfied, as it might seem, just wishful that there had been thought to put in an alternative enrtyway to a relationship here and there.
To be fair, there are some routes like that for Ian, too. Granted, he can have several tries with Alison and have a slow burn with Holly and Cindy, but Emma, Cherry and Minerva require Ian to act right away, or the opportunity to get together with them is lost. Ivy, too, isn't interested in Ian if he can't impress her during their first interaction. Some characters are simply like that. Take Robert for example. He's pushy and impatient, and if Lena refuses to spread her legs for him right away, he gets butthurt, acts like an asshole and Lena wants nothing to do with him anymore.
But we are talking about Lena's reactions here. Even if Robert had said no to taking it slow, having the option to try would have been nice.
Even if their path ultimately ended up the same way, it would have still been nice to have the "delay" option here and there.
She can give him 2 chances, and he always fucks those chances up by being impatient. She can kiss him in Chapter 2, and then refuse when he tries to talk her into inviting him. In Chapter 3, he tries again to impose himself, and if Lena tells him it's too soon, he gets angry instead of respecting her boundaries. It's all his fault. And it makes sense in the narrative, he's not very smart. Letting Lena give him a third/fourth chance would just result in the same toxic relationship she suffered with Axel, there's just no "love route with Robert" that would make Lena happy, they're incompatible in that way. But, there's no way to be sure that Eva won't implement "second chances" to get together with Cherry, Emma or Louise on different terms, because they're nowhere near as toxic as Robert/Minerva (though Louise has some serious attachment issues). After all, in GGGB, Jack too had several entries into his relationship. You could reject him early on, and he gives up on Ash after a while and it seems like his route is сlosed for good, but then you can reignite his spark in the middle of the game. So who knows, we might just need to be a little bit more patient with their paths.
