Thing is, those "separate" VNs serving as a sequel will directly reference the True Ending from Tides of Succession, and one of them will even feature a MC who is only born in the True Ending of ToS - so, just by that fact alone, all the other endings will be "dead ends", as they will hold no influence on the sequels whatsoever. Having a family with Glade is irrelevant when the (future) MC is canonically the son of MC and Lorelei. See what I mean?
Just wanted to jump in here and agree with this point. I don't mind if there's a true canon route that is meant to be applied in the future but I don't understand why that has to mean the LI is canon too. My understanding from reading through this thread so far is that your choices and branching throughout the game won't inherently prevent you from being romantically involved with any of the three LIs. So maybe I'm just not seeing the dev's vision here but I feel like just having the mother of MC's child be different with some marginal distinctions wouldn't be as big a deal. As an example, SWTA: The Author and SWTA: The Unbroken do a very similar thing where the player in the Unbroken can choose who the MC in the Author ended up with. Since they don't play a big role in the plot, it only affects a few scenes. Again, I don't know what exactly dev's plans with their future sequels are, but if the intention is to have a romantic branch and plot branch, I feel like they should kept separate.
At the very least for me, knowing there are huge plans for a trilogy in the series (even with different MCs, which is fine) but those games won't actually care about
any of the choices I make in those future titles if they aren't considered canon, makes me less interested in pursuing other characters
now. Especially when I want to get invested in this world, it would feel like I'm wasting my time in a what-if universe that doesn't impact the long-running narrative. Which is a massive shame for anyone who wants to get invested in Glade (like myself) or Kasula.
What I'm trying to get at is that I am very interested in seeing this game and I feel like myself and others would be willing to accept a canon plot route as long as it still felt like the time we spent before amounted to anything. The best compromise, and what I imagine most players would want, is that their LI from previous games is at least acknowledged and consistent. This could, hopefully, reduce the amount of branching to worry about while still feeling like this game's choices mattered for the future ones. It's fine to want to make it so that anyone jump in on the sequels and still get a good experience, but there should be at least some reward for the players who have been here to experience the whole thing.
I know that this idea would almost certainly add to the already huge load that such a massive project you envision in the future. But I wanted to convey that I am deeply interested in this game, as a monogamous AVN in a fantasy world with an interesting story to boot is something that is right up my alley. Regardless of whether my words impact anything, I hope that you keep up the good work here. I'll be watching this with much interest.
