Are there any plans for non-hostile NPC relationships that aren't just a cut-in appearance like if you were doing prostitution?
I don't necessarily mean "romance" per se, but oh boy did I want to get closer to the Llamia lady in the city.
I get that would probably be a later-development type of idea, or one for a later game built on this game's foundations.
But I could see "relationship" mechanics like that which could have a connection to stuff like the corruption meter, quests and events, and would make for some interesting replayability and "unlocking" stuff like unique H-scenes. There would then be a lot of variations to how to proceed with that. Some could require you to go all-in on a slut route, or maybe something in-between.
Some could even get you the unique content without needing to be defeated/corrupted, and could thus give erotic opportunities even for a "maiden" playthrough.
Random example of the latter idea: Imagine having some pure/prudish NPC that only responds well to you if you have little to no corruption, opening a "route" that way which could end in H-content that's otherwise inaccessible.
Then it would be like a reward for mastering the game's mechanics and not being defeated/corrupted. Like an achievement that isn't just a little icon in the corner.
I absolutely love games like this with defeat content, but I've noticed a lot of such games make you feel kind of dry if you aren't losing, which annoys me a bit when I actually find a game worthwhile to replay and master, as mastery then separates me from any erotic content I got it for. In turn, such a feature like in my example would add an extra bit of thrill and tension to the main defeat content, as a motivation to not lose in turn just makes H-content from being defeated all the more exciting as now you feel defeated.
To reiterate: I'm not talking about making it a straight up dating sim.
While I personally hope to find such a game one day that fully mixes this kind of adventure action game with branching narratives with also dating sim features, that would obviously be waaaaaay too much work and complexity.
For this game what I imagine would be considerably more straightfoward with maybe quest objectives and some other triggers like corruption level being the main way to "unlock" this.
As a concrete example, say content for the Llama lady requires you to not be a virgin, and maybe have a certain level of corruption, as well as maybe completing some task for them and talking to them a few times with conversation options.
That's about as complex as I'd see it get, and these are just general ideas for more ways to unlock content while also rewarding mastery of the mechanics more.