I actually don't agree that that Kaija was the only option to show MC around Neverwhere.
Sure, she was the "familiar" territory to him, but assuming we're going with the whole "MC doesn't trust Kaija after keeping the whole Templar thing a secret and also felt they were drifting apart" scenario i.e. Medb or any other non-Kaija LI paths, why couldn't other characters have shown MC around?
Like for example, Linnae? She was set to take the fall for MC and Kaija's little excursion to Neverwhere anyway in Kaija-solo path, so she could have been the prime candidate to show MC around; and her trying to justify to other Templar Masters that "MC needed to know" and resigning the same.
That, I'd say would have been a far better alternative, than playing the scene with Kaija doing the showing around Neverwhere which plays out pretty much almost identically as when player is going through the Kaija-solo path.
And yes, Kaija showing MC around Neverwhere, laughing and smiling while teaching him the basics makes 100% sense in her own path, but it makes much less sense (given she acts the same) if the player isn't pursuing her.
It just made things seem a bit weird, given they had an argument in the templars office (after Linnae's orders), and unless the player suddenly turned a 180 degrees from friend-zoning to choosing "Oh I changed my mind, I wanna take you back."
I'd say if the player chose to just friend-zone Kaija, and wanting to stay on that path, there should have been some sort of choice as to who can show MC around Neverwhere.
As for Medb can't be the guide and show MC around Neverwhere, lol of course not.
But that doesn't mean a separate branch couldn't have been created for those on Medb-solo path; I can already think of one example which is the following;
Only thing that matters is the whole MC saved Medb's life and her owing him a life debt leading to her releasing MC's father.
There could have been a lot of meat on the bones added (and it doesn't even need to be what I wrote above. Just anything, as long as it aligns with leading to the expected conclusion, where the branches end) for Medb's arc with this update with more stuff added which is exclusive to her solo-path.
As for Sandstorm and Snowstorm, well I did state the story and characters are different.
But even so, GleenX is currently doing a really good job with the branches atm, how each LI's arc, diverges with branches until eventually converging, which is what I wanted to point out.
Regarding the whole "long game" aspect, sure. It's clear Medb is a much more of slower burn LI, compared to say, Kaija. But I initially wasn't sure of how long of a game that
Ceolag has got planned for this.
If he only planned an entirety of 10 chapters for this, then most likely I would be getting pretty concerned.
But taking a look at the thread's OP, it does say "Book 1, Chapter 4."; meaning at least 2 Books/Seasons worth of storyline.
No idea how many Chapters will there be per season, but even so.
I'll give you that one, heh.
EDIT:
Actually, reading this, I am back to being pretty wary now
Book 2 with completely different story and new MC (and likely new LIs) will mean MC's arcs with LI will need to be all wrapped up within the planned 11~12 chapters of Book 1.
Which means, we're already nearly halfway
(considering 5.5 or 6 chapters is halfway mark, it's close enough).
My personal hope is, with Medb-solo path, in the future it allowing players to explore locations (such as Elves' forest residence) exclusive to that path, and those locations being locked out if player is on Kaija-solo path (and Kaija solo path having its own exclusive places not available on other paths).
Otherwise, if too much content overlap between path, all there's gonna be is a lot of ctrl fast skip on those second playthrough paths lol.
Not sure whether Ceolag is thinking of this or not, but I hope.
Somehow, this turned into a big ramble from my end lol
