Orangepocalypse
Active Member
- Jun 30, 2020
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While I agree with you that there are some pretty glaring issues with the construction of the NTR path, I wonder if you're presuming that because something hasn't happened *yet* (and it's still quite early in the story) that it's not going to happen.
From my reading of the story, MC and Mel are in a pretty happy stable relationship at the beginning of the game. There's reference to MC kissing another girl about a year ago (iirc), but early in the game the couple seems pretty happy and confident in the relationship (which makes a great deal of sense since this is the launch point for all three routes including the "love" route which just appears to be the NTS route with you the player choosing to have Mel avoid things.
So, the NTR route has to present as something that is "starting from scratch", and there *ought* to be (as far as I'm concerned) a reason that Mel is embarking on the NTR path that makes sense in a way that you don't have to worry about for the NTS path (they both consent to Mel doing things because they both presumably want to do those things).
So, what's Mel's reason? I think the author has decided (thank you, Zip) that Mel is going down the NTR path for a reason that doesn't have anything to do with mind control or blackmail; and since that's the case there has to be a reason that Mel strays. The initial encounter with Dave gets a foot in the door with respect to NTR storytelling (Mel made out with another guy without MC's knowledge/consent and that can be "excused" because Mel was drunk and maybe a little lonely because MC was out of town . . . a pretty shitty reason, but it might be seen by MC as a one time thing just like MC kissing another girl a year earlier.)
So, what's Mel's reason to continue down this path then? Is she going to be written as a brainless amoral slut and we just don't have to think too hard about the writing? I hope not. So that would leave the explanation of Mel straying because she is dissatisfied with her relationship with MC in some way. MC doesn't have to be cartoonishly incompetent or selfish, he just has to have "real world" problems like being drowned in work and not allocating his free time very well (in Mel's opinion) by doing things like dedicating time to his friend Ben or to having other relationships (platonic ones as far as Mel knows) with a couple other girls. At least I hope that's the direction that the narrative is taking, because it treats Mel as a character with some substance and agency rather than an NPC fuck hole. That development also presents the opportunity (challenge) to explain what MC will do when he sees these Injector conversations and why he is reacting in the way that he is. Can he just confront Mel and say "hey, I know you're cheating because I illegally hacked your phone"? How can MC point a finger at Mel for violating his trust when MC has basically done just that? Like I said, it's an interesting narrative challenge that I look forward to seeing addressed well.
I've found at some points that Mel's behavior is inconsistent with what we've been told to expect from Mel from earlier chapters, and those discrepancies have caused me to raise an eyebrow from the perspective of "this writing doesn't make logical sense to me". I just don't know if I'd go so far as to judge the story based on events missing that very well could happen later in a well-constructed story . . . I don't think Mel is being written as a character who goes from good girlfriend to turbo skank is a week - I just don't see why Zip would do such top quality work on the UI and the art in general to cut the legs out from under the project with such unimaginative writing.
