Great way to put it. Like said before here, it really feels like the choices you make have little to none impact. You are still forced to do some of the things, which in some cases won't even make any sense at all. It almost feels like the writer forgets what they have done earlier, or just can't wrap their head around how they could tie the earlier stuff with the new ones, so it becomes a total mess.
But I somewhat disagree with this, which is makes the game's narrative design so weird. So in every game there is a limitation on how much your choices can really impact things, that's just a logistical reality. Now some games just have flavor choices on a straight-forward path, which is completely as then that is what the game is. This is essentially what the first Summer with Mia was and it is kind of what Echoes of Lust is.
However here, in the first three episodes the game gives you room within that narrow space to define several relationships and the MC's approach to them. A great example is Cindy where what the MC does in those interactions does affect what they are. Those same first three episodes also give the player ample room to decide how the MC and Mia interact as well as how the MC views her. Which is why that forced declaration of love at the end of Episode 4 was such an insane moment as it really only worked if the player was on a specific game, but the game had also gone out of its way to provide other paths.
Yet after doing that, this episode reverts back to the previous approach despite that ending fundamentally changing the identity fo the game. I'll be honest, if I played the Issa scene here after Episode 3, I would probably praise it as to me it was well-written and had a some neat moment to establish boundaries and the further details of that relationship. However, after Episode 4 and that forced moment of love, it felt like it should have been in a different game. Hence my confusion on what is this game even supposed to be by the writer.
