Your whole analysis is great as always except for Oliver part (my favourite scene in the whole update):
I couldn't disagree more.
I don't know why a physical altercation and an eye to eye meeting doesn't feel like an escalation to you but a repeat. How is this a repeat? Especially since in your next paragraph you say that "we are escalating things"...
As I said, it *feels* like a repeat even if I recognize intellectually that the situation is escalating. And I also explained why the physical altercation feels like a step back: I don't believe for a moment that Oliver can actually
do anything to my avatar, whereas I could suspend my disbelief enough to by his indirect threats against a LI.
If you boil it down, I think we could have skipped the previous run in with Oliver entirely and everything would still make sense if this was the first time we encountered him. Nothing in the MC's reactions or his ability to bring this problem to the Club hinged on having a prior history with Oliver. Yes, the repetition helps establish the threat and the interactions with August would lose some nuance, but showing Oliver in a different light would have sold the threat even more and might not have made August look like look like he was asleep at the switch.
I would prefer if our first run in with Oliver had a stronger influence on the second.
Same goes for you saying that we have the same options but only with fewer variations. That's not true at all, in fact we have more options now. Previous options were temporary, new ones are permanent (or at least much more permanent), i.e. either the debt will be paid in full and Rosalind will have to pay off the debt to August/Chuck now or Oliver will be seriously injured/killed or police will throw him into jail. Earlier we could only pay him off for 2 weeks or he could get a warning from a guy he doesn't know.
Sorry, I completely disagree here. The options the MC has now are better (assuming they follow through), but there are only two of them: ask August for help, or as Chuck for help. Last time we had twice as many options. I'm less interested in the objective results of the intervention (which are at the whim of the author) than I am in the implications of the choice itself. The MC asking, say, Felicia for help instead of his bosses
told us something about the MC. This time he can only choose between Chuck and August, hence we get less information from the choice.
As for club being complacent you've answered it yourself, both August and Chuck (and Kathleen probably too) think nothing about carnations, they're just worthless whores for their entertainment so why even bother helping them or going the extra mile? This is why I don't see how you can be disappointed with August to be honest, it's not that he knew Oliver would just piss on him, he "kinda expected it" but if Oliver situation could be resolved without Jacob/Warren or even mroe money involved then why not try it first? It's not like he cares about Rosalind and he's a retired gangster who AFAWK has only 2 soldiers in his crew so why risk them for something like this?
I said August might not care about Rosalind's
comfort, but if he doesn't care about her at all he's a fool: she's a valuable asset to him, at least for the next two weeks. And I specifically said he just needed to keep an eye on things, not send Warren in guns blazing. This seems like exactly the sort of favor his old mobster buddies could do for him.
Like I said, I couldn't disagree more, both your "solutions" seem silly to be honest. If more time would pass, competition could be at the point where the carnation winner would already be determined so there would be no tension left, plus it makes sense that Oliver would immediately go to Rose to know WTF she suddenly got so much money (and ask for more obviously) or WTF she's asking for help to some old-timers he didn't even hear about. That's common sense.
Time in a story is a malleable thing. We didn't need more days to pass, just more events related to Rosalind. Unfortunately, almost all of Rosalind's events between Oliver's two appearances have been Club related, which doesn't really help.
We needed to see how the MC's intervention *changed* Rosalind's life before Oliver shows up to undo the changes and make things even worse. Sadly, the first time we see Rosalind's life again, it's all about how Oliver is still up to his old tricks. That's why it feels repetitive: our actions never had a chance to change anything.
As for more content this just be even more silly. I'm most likely in minority or even the only person who liked this scene so much (you clearly didn't) so why waste even more time and content on something like this in a porn game? TD and GIL have perfectly balanced "tell" and "show" here and if the rest will be behind the scenes so be it.
It's a question of timing. Last time we cut away from the subplot after we made a choice and assumed the problem was solved. If we cut away again this time, it feels like more of the same. If we actually see the consequences of the choice play out (or at least the first of the consequences), that feels like something new.
And it's not like the time spent showing those consequences would be wasted; I assume we're going to see them sooner or later. There may be plot problems with showing those consequences immediately (only TD would know that for sure), but I think we could find some sort of compromise that shakes things up without getting too far ahead of the main narrative.
That's my take, anyway. As I said, I can live with what we got so if everyone else likes it, so be it. (I haven't had a chance to catch up on the forum posts yet so I haven't seen any other reviews.)
, but right is right)
