Yup, the relationship setup seems poorly planned. there you go, Grace is supposed to be the MC's sister down here implying they have different fathers. For those who easily get triggered by such trivial details (like me), I'd recommend going with the safe route of aunt and cousin.
Let me counter this for the fun of it and guidance for new players:
Sophie "I knew it."
Beth "You knew?"
Sophie "I worked it out days ago. I knew you were my..."
Why would it bother the twins that the MC's dad abandoned
them (us) if they weren't all related family in the first place?
Isn't such expression above normally only used if all the children are abandoned by their father for another woman?
The father supposedly stayed in Beth's life and not in Beth's mother's life, so Beth seems more likely the MC's dad's daughter thus the MC's and IMO also the twin's half-sister.
There is hardly so much struggle to figure the fitting relationships like here compared to many other stories I've played so far.
I'm also currently trying to figure out the optimal relationships according to its uses in the story far.
There were changes in E1 when E2 was released to force players to reconfigure the relationships so all setups can somewhat work.
There's been some adjustments to the way relations are defined. Most are no longer tied to each other, allowing for more customisation, so you'll need to define all the relations again so that your save doesn't break.
Obviously, it can't be made right for everything as we find some discrepancies everywhere.
I unfortunately don't have the files from the first release anymore where some relations were accidently revealed.
Angela still doesn't have lots of content yet for more background to make one's mind either, although it would leave the question unanswered who is the true mother of the MC is in the end if she is declared as aunt. Growing up with the twins as cousins sounds too strange without knowing what happened to the MC's true mother. That would really suck if the MC's dad would have abandoned his only son when his former wife abandoned both of them or had died before.
Beth "I know you're not fond of your dad since he left when you were little but he was always there for me."
MC "(I doubt that. A kind and loving man wouldn't abandon his family.)"
"His family" sounds more like the MC's dad is also related to the twins including Angela.
Angela "I haven't seen that man since you were little."
Angela still seem to have had a grudge to him and won't call him husband anymore what is plausible.
relation4 is the relation variable of Angela to the MC:
Angela "And don't call him dicklips. That's an horrible nickname."
Sophie "Sorry, [relation4]."
That would mean that Sophie has the same relationship to Angela as the MC.
Works for "mother" but not for "aunt" if someone makes Angela the mother of the twins.
Sophie "Our [relation4] put it in the washing machine and made me promise not to tell you."
This is another shared usage of
relation4 of the twins and MC which works for "mother" but rather not "aunt". A "landlady" washing for her tenants? That is very unlikely, same as how a "landlady" is the guardian for non-adult children in her home before they all hit 18.
Angela as adoptive mother shouldn't be ruled out either where her adoptive kids MC, Sophie, and Grace aren't even related to each other and call Angela their "mother" and each other "brother" and "sister". That could also be a plausible scenario.
There is also an
a_name variable input later in E2 what to call Angela as MC, so useful for "Mom" here instead of "mother" like in
relation4.
I also hardly believe the MC and the twins would make such a happy fuss about Beth as step-sister, while Beth would hardly want to move to her step-siblings she never knew before either.
Similar with the MC's relation to the twins. It "feels" more plausible according to the dialogue lines that he is closer related as brother than cousin.
"Favorite X", "little X", "big Y"...this is such typical banter between siblings.
Anyway, for new players, I think the sister/mother/(half-)sister descriptions work fine enough too although the MC doesn't look so related to the rest with his green eyes. There are enough games out here where whole families don't look similar either, so no need to bother about this either.
I would also pick "sister" for Beth, as "half-sister" sounds too reserved when you grow closer as family what happens here in this story.
"twin" instead of "twin sister" as
relation3 between Sophie and Grace also sounds better during the dialogues.
Angela "How are the [relation3]s? Are they going through an arguments phase or a BFFs for life phase?"
If someone uses here only "sister" then this would sound they're related to the MC, hence "twin" works also better for the "cousin" preference.
"the [relation3]s" is often used during dialogues what shouldn't sound too mouthful all the time, like "You show the twin sisters your phone".
Better also not capitalize the definitions except what you call Angela as MC later in E2, like "Mom" or "Mommy", "Aunt" or "Auntie", or whatever is your preference.
