You're harsh but yeah Holly coming to pole dancing after having said it's not for her is a bit jarring and screams "combine branching to trim paths"
Holly comes to the pole dancing class again because Lena is there, and that's a way for Holly to interact with her more, even if she isn't too fond of the activity itself.
FOR GALLERY:
There was a bikini poll posted 3 days ago. I'm guessing she's also deciding on the bikini to be used for it. But idk.
Yeah. I saw that she posted the actual poll 3 days back (though I don't have access to the poll myself to read). But the original post from 5 days ago that originally mentioned the upcoming bikini poll also said the Final would be released in a couple days, which means last Wednesday. I was just wondering if she'd mentioned anything about the delay and a new time estimate for release. I don't think the bikini will be seen in the chapter final or is associated with the delay at all, at least based on what she wrote on Monday. The poll is just routine Patreon service to keep fans satiated as she preps for Chapter 12, afaik.
I guess I just don't see it as a contest of agency in that way, since I, the player am the one in control of both MCs. If I want to keep Holly pure, I can choose to do so with my decision making by both choices.
Just because you reach the same destination doesn't make the journey equal.
I am being patient. I'm not sitting here saying Eva is the worst for fixing a glitch. I didn't even know I wanted this until the glitch happened. And now all I'm saying is that this would have been an interesting opportunity to make Lena's decisions affect Holly, and by extension Ian's relationship. So it would be possible to play Ian as a loving boyfriend and still have Holly lured away. Because by all accounts, Ian was a good and loving boyfriend to Gillian, and thought everything was going good enough that he expected her to move for him. And she ended up cheating. So we could even say it's poetic, that it gives the player the option of making history repeat itself.
But that's the thing -- with the way you suggest, and Lena's influence being all that effectively matters, there's only one way you can "keep Holly pure" and that's by keeping Lena away from her. This reduces number of stories the player can potentially craft, compared to version where they also get option for Ian to actively oppose Lena and, depending which of the MC makes better choices, either come out on top, or lose this contest.
I really don't understand the logic behind this 'Ian's agency' argument. The only person who has agency is the player. The NPC's also have their own agency, but the decisions and choices of both Ian and Lena are influenced by me, the player. If I make that choice, having Lena influence Holly, behind Ian's back, I the player am exerting my agency to create that situation and draw dramatic irony from the scene because I know the context that the character's don't. That's what's being achieved by allowing it, rather than drawing agency away from a character that the player controls. Because if the player doesn't want Lena to exert that influence, they can simply chose not to do it. My agency as the player should allow me to dictate how much influence one mc exerts over another, if they both have the option of influencing a third npc.
The "open relationship" in this game isn't a permission/arrangement for both Ian and Lena to fuck whoever else they wish on their own. It's potentially "experimenting together" i.e. maybe having some threesomes where both of them get involved.
Well, no, you can also keep Holly pure, by keeping Lena pure.
Both of these are effectively the same thing -- you can't have Lena try to tempt Holly away from Ian and fail due to Ian's interference.
I agree, this is currently the case. However since we're merely at mid point there's plenty of time for such option to actually appear -- i don't think Holly's change is all completed. There's both room for her to become more adventurous, and for Lena to give in to her lust and to get over her current scruples.
