I think that what players like
MrFriendly (whose comments in other threads I have found quite insightful) are missing is that Tilly (usually) has no control over her powers. The antipathy such players are expressing towards her (apart from the forced relationship) is based on the (false) assumption that Tilly is deliberately trying to manipulate the MC with her power, whereas it has been shown many times that she hates her ability. There are only two times in the game when she definitively makes a deliberate effort to use her power and both times are a direct result of a player choice. The first time is when she calms down the irate coffee shop customer (IF the player chooses that option) and the second when she would have tried to 'avada kadavra' Valerie during their argument, which is interrupted by the phonecall about her parents death. But again this second attempt ONLY occurs if the player explicitly makes the choice to encourage her to use her powers to strike back at her tormentors (the evil route) and does not happen if the player chooses to encourage Tilly to use her powers for good (as with helping out the beleaguered barista - the good route) or not use her powers at all (the neutral route). In my opinion, the ONLY time Tilly has been anything less than the sweet girl MC thinks of her was when MC's flirtation with Nika caused her to become jealous and she snapped at MC to come choose clothes with her (and again the migraine she inflicted on MC was unintentional, as with when she did the same to the group of unkind school kids who called her fat - a reflection of her own emotional state). Even the time she knocked Valerie out during the futsal match was not deliberate and a previously unknown aspect of her power triggered by Tilly's fear (and frankly I myself, also a very sub-par athlete, would be shitting myself if I had to face the, possibly superhuman, ferocity of Valerie's special 'hurricane kick'). When I read how some players think that Tilly is deliberately coercing MC with her ability I kind of hope that an early theory I had - that MC was actually immune to her power due to his health powers and his feelings for her all genuinely coming from himself - was true.
I also think that it is fairly obvious that the smiling or crying that Tilly does at the end of the update is her picking up on Valerie's emotional state after the washing machine incident - she smiles because her empathy knows Valerie is happy (that her beloved dad fucked her) or cries because Valerie is heartbroken (if he rejects her). I mean that is her power - empathy not telepathy or clairvoyance. Since I feel that many players are misunderstanding her power I would beseech
Burst Out Games to offer some clarification on this issue, if doing so would not spoiler the story.
