"The way I see it, Rosalind doesn't have any agency since she is, as god is my witness, a woman. She's compelled by nature to do what she does because of her chromosomes. As such, she's only a victim of her circumstance, your honor. We plead not guilty."
After moving forward a bit in the story, I agree with this take. Rosalinde isn't a bad person, but she's in a shitty situation and she's looking for any sympathy card to help her out that she can get, even if that's someone like Edwin. Edwin's deal with her fits the entire subtitle of the game about the "motherly vibe"; his issues stemming from seeing his mother in porn to make ends meet for him and the resulting guilt and pent up lust gives way to some magnetism towards Rosalinde, but that's only if you the player pursue it. You can also just, very clearly, make Edwin a cold-hearted asshole who becomes vindicative if people try to embarrass or humiliate him.
It doesn't affect other routes; you can accept her deal and still pursue other girls normally.
You can always choose to NOT engage in anything sexual with Mina until she breaks up with Ian... if that makes you feel less guilty.
it definitely does, but then you're the guy who acted as a rebound for your best friend's ex, which socially hasn't been a norm since the 50's (as in the classical declaration that you're gonna steal your friend's girl if he ain't serious about her)
I imagine that's largely the point. Also, there's no obligation for Edwin to think of Ian as his actual best friend -- the game allows some early choices which set it up in a manner Edwin has clearly had enough of Ian's bullshit in the past and is now distancing himself from him. Ian acting like Ian (bringing a girl to bang to what's now Edwin's flat and cheating on Mina at every opportunity) makes it even easier to disregard any sort of the bullshit "bro code" with him.
That checks out, and I didn't know you could deteriorate their friendship *that* badly; there were a few occasions to call him an asshole or be annoyed with his shit, but they still seemed like they were still tight (something about a line Edwin has where he says Killian's an asshole, but he's his asshole)
I mean, it's not like you burn the bridges entirely with Ian. But if you drop the friendship score to around zero then they're more of "former best friends" (and Edwin would rather not interact much if he can help it) than actual best friends.
Tbf I always feel bad pursuing Mina for that reason, even if her relationship was doomed to fail but Ian is a good friend even if clearly a bad match for any girl right now.
Well, I do think there is some fun irony in the fact that Mina always hated that she played Juliet in 'Romeo and Juliet' because of how boring and spontaneous she was for falling for Romeo, but falls so quickly in love with Edwin and seemingly the only excuse to keep her from pouncing him sooner was Killian.
While an option, I consider this shooting yourself in the knee. Ian has big flaws, but it clear pretty early on he is also a fracking great friend to have. I have a bromance with him in my playthroughs, it already shows and will bear fruits in the game future. "My" Ian went contemplative, is starting to turn around his life and even Hana is warming up to him a bit. Ian/Mina still have 5-6 romance points at this time in the game, a rekindling of their relationship might happen.
I've made sure they have 0 at this point in my play through.
