I'm glad to see Derealization get some appreciation around here. With its twisty development cycle, I've found myself alternating wildly between hope and despair for the project. I was really excited about the game before the rework, but I started to half write it off as an art project with an eternally expanding beginning that would never actually reach a conclusion...or a midpoint. The last two updates have been really good, though, so I've swung back to the hope side. The next few releases will be huge as this will be Greenish Purple's chance to build some real momentum for the project and show us that he's now got his vision for the story figured out and that he can resist the urge to rework going forward.
I was actually at least initially quite skeptical of some of the changes the rework brought. It's not an understatement to say that GP went all in on Theia. She went from a figure from the MC's past to a constant presence in hallucinatory form and now she has more lines of dialogue than any of the non-PC "real" characters. Also, I felt like this particular MC's inner demons didn't really need to be represented visually like VNs tend to want to do -- we can see his anger flare up when things don't go his way or his tendency to run away when life gets complicated without needing Theia to personify his sickness.
I've come to appreciate T. more now, though. While it can be a little annoying to see Jake so involved in conversing with his faux ex-girlfriend that he ignores or alienates actual people, it's pretty damn real to portray mental illness as something that keeps you from connecting with others. As jufot mentioned, Theia also functions as the MC's conscience and she challenges him with plenty of much-needed feedback about his destructive patterns of behavior. It'll be interesting to see if the real Theia is alive and will make an appearance in the story at some point.
One thing I didn't mind is the reveal about Jilla's career in porn and like some of the other posters here I was bemused by the over-the-top reaction to it from the peanut gallery. While she didn't "have" to be a porn star, at least not up to this point in the story), I certainly don't think her past (or present) career is any reason for the MC to distance himself from her and I definitely feel it was another personal failure for him to rush to judgment and anger instead of showing some concern, support, and/or empathy for his sister. It's natural not to want your sister to be exposed and in the public eye that way, but to have that be the only reaction you feel isn't really caring about her as a person IMO. I also feel personally like it's not that strange to be a porn star in 2023. While Jilla did studio porn, I imagine there are people in my social circle who are on OnlyFans or post to /r/gonewild without me knowing about it. The world has changed, but F95zone always surprises me with how "conservative" many of its users really are at heart. Of course, they're conservatives who often/usually have no issue with incest so they tend to see Jilla as a potential love interest whereas I see her purely as a family member the MC will have a platonic relationship with.
It probably makes all the sense in the world to keep the MC out of relationships given the personal demons he has to contend with, but where's the fun in that? Still, I am planning to do at least one celibate run (though it probably won't really feel all that celibate because of Theia) because there's a good chance that that would be the wisest choice for Jake and everyone who comes into his orbit. I feel particularly wary of pairing the MC with anyone who isn't stable and is facing serious problems of their own because Jake is an incredibly shaky foundation to build a life around at this point in time. Even without Hildegardt's ace detective work, pursuing Sydney would still seem like a particularly risky proposition to me. It's practically inevitable that if they get closer there will come a time when she'll really need the MC and he won't be there for her. Maybe he'll run away again or be lost in conversation with Theia or just be hiding from the world. The potential consequences of that are terrifying and have already been chillingly foreshadowed.
On the other hand, maybe there's a risk to not being there for Sydney too. The default state for humanity is silence and indifference. It might be better to have someone imperfect and unsuitable reaching out to her than to have no one at all try. It's certainly not a given that Sydney who seems quite skilled at misdirection and secret-keeping has anyone else in her life who really cares or has any inkling of what her daily existence is really like.
It's very hard to say at this point who in the game is an actual LI and who is just there to add color to the world. If I could pick anyone, though, I'd choose to pair either Tammy, Jackson, or Delilah with the MC for different reasons. Tammy seems like a very stable, straightforward, and together person. I like that she has experience sharing her life with a difficult and neuroatypical person like her sister Tamika, and I like the way she openly showed genuine interest and attraction in Jake. Jackson (Chloe's mom) gives me earth mother and hippie type vibes and could I think be great for a hothead like our MC who struggles to control his emotions. She could get him into yoga, encourage him to meditate more, and just generally give him a very different perspective on life than he normally gets. Let's delay the MC becoming Chloe's stepdad for as long as possible, though, because I have serious doubts he's ready for that responsibility.
Delilah's a bit of a different case as she comes across as probably the most disconnected person in the game next to Jake. She's alone at the top and can barely even bring herself to pay attention to her underlings. However, she seems more distant than troubled. These qualities might not all seem terribly attractive all things being equal, but I think it could actually be great that Delilah with her personality might not be a very clingy or demanding girlfriend. The MC seems to want to run away when life gets too real or demanding so some distance might actually be a good thing. I may be making wild assumptions based on appearance here, but I would guess that there's a good chance that like any good Muscle Lady Boss she knows a good gym and could get Jake to start a new workout routine which could be good for him as well. Of course, all this does mean he'll be dating his boss...and that she'd be interested in him in the first place.
