Why is the Bad Jess path so abysmal? She and Ian had three encounters and all of them were roughly the same.
- Ian approaches her, gets minus points if he is even slightly obtrusive (even if some questions are fine), gets insulted and rejected if he makes a direct move on her or stays on her good side if he interacts as careful as possible.
- Told, but not shown that Jessica had a bad past and that Ian is not judging her over it.
- Jessica asks him why he is interested in her and Ian answers that she caught his eye because she is interesting. Its a circle argument with no elaboration whatsoever.
At least we got a sex scene and the more extreme sides of Chad Ian, even if it ends the path and is evident of the current writing (focusing more and more on porn).
Now, bad Jess isn't designed as a main love interest, she is but a fleshed out cameo. We shouldn't compare her with GGGB Jessica. Her ORS equivalent is Ivy. This leads to compare Ivy with GGGB Jessica and its abysmal as well.
Jessica fucks guys and its shown. She fucks Jack, Kevin, Tyrones gang, can fuck Ashley, Dave and is a threesome candidate for many couples.
Ivy tells that she fucks guys, we are neither shown it and its never elaborated on. That one time with Mike is completely glossed over and as of now there is no indication that she and Axel are in allegiance (that would be intriguing). I joke about her being a virgin just because of the lack of male scenes. Its told that she is this super emancipated free spirited super slut that all men fawn over (and Ian, Jeremy, Perry compliment her) but whenever the subject is brought up, she is dismissive of men because they are so simple minded and below her. Does she even have male suitors she fucks? Lena, Louise and Holly got more action than her, even though its implied that those three have more issues with men because of relationship issues, when Ivy allegedly always has a sex partner because she doesn't care about relationships.
Only path of substance is the lesbian one with Lena and/or Holly, but even this one seems casual and more because of porn content than relationship progression (if anything, it develops Holly, not such much Ivy and Lena).
Lena is a better Ashley, Holly a better Eva, but Ivy a worse Jessica.
Improvements would be giving Ivy way more content in the early game to show that she is living a extensively sex life:
- Occasionaly fucking Mike and when Lena goes for him, she and Ivy can chat about it. Lena can act surprised and jealous, or Ivy could be surprised that Mike goes for her and possibly give Lena more attention than her.
- Establishing that she and Axel have a purely physical relationship. This emphasizes Ivy's indication to not interlap personal feelings and relationship with her sex life and would make her dynamic with Lena more risky and shacky, which is good considering that Ivy is supposed to be that extreme friend who Lena either agrees with or distances herself from throughout the course of the game.
- Fucking Mark and/or Marcel throughout the game and commenting on if Lena/Holly mingle with them as well.
- Why wasn't she fucking Jack in chapter 11? She comments on it twice and there is no explanation why Jack wouldn't want to fuck her.
- Billy is set up as a potential love interest and since he is currently a mystery, he could compliment Ivy as a partner well, either be sleazy rich horndog who can shower Ivy with money, presents and job opportunities or a free spirited party king that matches Ivys enthusiasm. They could have been fucking since his introduction but no, his event is dragging on forever.
- Ian content is abysmal, there could've been a few scenes with them. Especially if he is a chad and/or dating Lena, Ivy could mingle with him either because of her amusement, testing him for Lena, sabotaging and manipulating them (especially if she knows they cheat around with Cindy, Axel etc.) or whatever.
As my suggestions show, Ivy can be the replacement/rival if Lena isn't showing the guys attention, just like how Jeremy is fucking Alison if Ian isn't interested or how Holly goes for Clark/Mark/Stan if Ian ignores her. But somehow, she is almost exclusevely a lesbian and her content with Ian, Jeremy and Billy is extremely limited by comparison and drags on for way too long.
