That is most likely how things will progress, unless Eva still plans to have a time skip in the game. There are certain story threads that could benefit from this.
- Wade & Cindy: In the last chapter they took a break and I think that happens no matter what you do. I can think of three ways this story could evolve:
- Wade & Cindy get back together when Ian is just a friend and Lena is on the Axel path, including taking her job as a Wild Cat or working together.
- Wade & Cindy never get back together when Ian is just a friend and Lena ignores Axel. Cindy will most likely end up sleeping with Axel and break things off.
- Wade & Cindy have a bad break up when Wade finds out about Ian. In this case Ian will most likely move out of the apartment.
- What will a time skip fix? Wade could start to work out and take care of himself and turn his life around. He could be a new good guy option for Lena. Enough time will pass and Ian could try to mend his relationship with Perry. The Wild Cat job is no longer a new thing, some issues could appear there. Cindy could also get a makeover.
- Stan & Holly: They both could get a makeover. Stan could loose some weight, Holly could gain some in the right places. Also, for a good Holly that had no luck with Ian and Lena, Stan looks like a good potential partner.
- Ivy & Billy: For Ivy it looks like Billy is her only option to do something else beside dancing.
- Lena & Seymour: Lena could become more comfortable with Seymour and agree to do more.
- Ian/Jeremy & Allison: We all know that she will get pregnant at some point.
But at the same time some storylines that were just introduced could be harmed by a time skip:
First of all, Lena's money problem if she rejected Seymour's offer and the cafe eventually closes. What will she do to keep paying rent? There is a photo shoot with Billy pending, Ivy could invite Lena to be a go-go dancer, so many exciting possibilities that feel appropriate to happen fairly soon or she could just find a lame job being a waitress in some dirty joint or flip burgers or something.
Also Gillian has returned.
Ian and Ivy - there was no intimate interaction with them yet, only mild flirting, and the buildup to them hooking up for the first time is the sexiest thing. If the time skips and they still haven't hooked up, then it just becomes laughable. Or if they hooked up off-screen it will be a slap in the face to everyone who was interested in their development. Same for Ian and Jess, Ian and Nat.
Ian and Lena can also have various developments that require a buildup. They can cheat on each other. If the time skips and they're still cheating, does it mean that both were super secret and successfully hid without player's input? Then what's the point of the whole mini-game of lying to Perry to hide Ian's affair with Cindy if he's perfectly capable of doing it on his own?
They're about to have their first threesome, so you can't rush this event either.
Lena can start cucking Ian, and if the time skips and Ian is suddenly a complete wimp and tolerates all of Lena's humiliation and she's banging random dudes in front of him then it robs both Ian and Lena of the agency: Ian from saying no to humiliation and Lena from picking her boy (or girl) toys without the player's input.
There's also Lena's newfound path with Ivy and affair with Axel. How will these things evolve? The player has to be able to decide if it was just a one-time thing (moment of weakness) or they want to be fuck-buddies or if there are feelings involved.
Also Lena and Louise need to talk about how their threesome with Jeremy went and whether Louise wants more. If the time skips, did they have some more threesomes off-screen or did Lena completely cuck Louise and turned her into their sub pet getting off on simply watching? Without buildup these scenes could be anticlimactic.
On the meta level, it's currently summer in the game so you need to take advantage of this, spending time on beaches and such or having an outdoor photo shoot. Or a very romantic sex on the beach between Ian and Lena (or Ian/Lena and Holly). Eva needs to fit as much summer content these next chapters while also progressing other storylines. So I doubt it would happen until in-game September (which could be at least 4 chapters away if each chapter skips a week).
I guess a big time skip could happen once all of the paths have been locked-in and reached their peak so pretty close to the end. If you remember GGGB, the final releases felt like the game rushed its way to the ending, almost fast-forwarding from one sexy scene to another with barely anything happening in-between. This could be solved if the time skip happens not at the ending (One year later) but after the third act or something. But the problem is, you have to spend time explaining all of the changes so the first chapter after the time skip could be just catching up on the events rather than moving the story forward.
So, I think it's best if the game just does minor time skips (like a week or two) between chapters if the story calls for it, while also allowing proper buildups for the paths that have been on the backburner like the game has been doing for the last 4 chapters.
