That is the thing, we all have different understandings of deep story and believable characters. Some just will play Mc and not think a second of his back story and what it means to rest of characters or make those connections. I suspect dev did not either, others will and for them it destroys those characters and makes you want to stay away from them, which is self defeating for a romance/harem game and this game has a lot of those female characters and MC needing a mentor or ten is not weird after the neglect and abuse heaped on him without help offered all those years by any of those women that socalled loved and knew him already for years.
Concerning Alice moving away in original, I had no problem with that as such, even if I think it is a bad plot point in games as wip (work in progress) where you cannot turn things around in next hour or even days as you can in a finished game or book or tv series. You keep them away to long from action (months to years in real time as players of wip play it and not just days or weeks as is in game time), can not really develop them unless have them interact with other potential rivals and if they do not return changed it will have no good reason either.
Thing was Alice's behavior and reason in moving away might have been somewhat selfish, when look at it from MC that wants to bed her point, but it was a reasonable and acceptable selfishness. Her son was in a good place, old enough to look after himself and she had made sure and was sure that all her older female friends that she knew she could trust would keep an eye on him. So her looking for some happiness herself was neither an insult nor betrayal of MC. In premium that situation was completely different.
Now would I have liked Alice to call a bit more often in old version and be a bit less in the "incest is bad trope mode" when she came back and more accepting of fact she found out she wanted to be with MC and not someone else and that is partly why she returned. Dev wanted to add the predictable drama though and go slow, instead of more interesting fun and drama where they would have wanted each other but miscommunicated a bit or Mom getting bit jealous her friends were pretty active with Mc when she was away. Yeah, but that was dev choice, unfortunately the premium is one big throwing together of all those overused negative tropes without any twists or fun, but overly dramatic and dark in my view while destroying too many of the women as romantic interest anyone would want to be with if not a masochist and want to be hurt or neglected even more by them.
I said it before it is a great setup for a dark revenge filled harem with an evil MC, a less good one for a light loving one though. Even if MC would grow as a person, overcome his problems, well by then he would deserve better women as those available in this game to become happy with considering their roles in his past.
They would not deserve him in that case as they are or him saving them as seems to be the story line with Alice, even if it would be ever be possible to make believable he could with how much growth he would need and the fact most single people will be crushed by a corrupt elite and not win helped by the hand of god, especially when a naïve kid. It is great Disney fairy tale stuff, but not very believable.
It is not for nothing people like Mickey Spillane use older grizzled veterans of at least army and/or police work as detectives in past for their heroes and even then they are underdogs and not 15 yo kids with no experience or network and a PTSD.
You're right, I like getting into the MC's shoes, I think that's the factor of not supporting NTR. Even when a so-called "mature adult" says it's just bits. I kind of embody the MC. And yes, how you say these things can spoil the game for people like us.
But as I said before, and I believe not everyone thinks like me. I feel Alice more distant in the old version, I don't know, it might just be the fact that she is more focused on her "happiness". And as you said, it seems more selfish to go get it in another city and leave the MC just with friends and such. And I understand that part that even she is "closer" in this version she still seems absent in the MC's life. But I think this is more of a character construction, like what I saw in Alice was a young rebel, who didn't have as much "future" (financially speaking) as her sister, so she has a child and is abandoned by her husband, is constantly humiliated by her mother and sister, it's clear to me that she has her own mental problems. Yes she could focus more on her son and such, that's why I understand she does what she can, because unlike this version in the old one she seems to have a better financial structure.
The fact that she failed a mother is evident, and I think that's where they will build their new "mother and child relationship." I can be totally wrong.
And now that I've kind of finished the old version, at least the Alice part (I think I'm done because I got the last scene), I had the same thought as
saynotoNTR I think the DEV wanted an NTR thing there, but gave up because its base he doesn't like that kind of thing, and then he changed, Alice comes home and this time, she comes with the MC in her total focus, she forgot about hunting the brawny Sufi. So I think my problem with old Alice is more that she was written as a character who would go on an "NTR route", like from the start she is more concerned with finding a man than nothing, almost every dialogue it's about finding someone, even when she does something with the MC (the blowjob) she calls another guy's name (I know it was her husband and stuff, but it's still a disconnect), and after that NTR phase ends, Alice looks like a very good mother indeed. And I believe the DEV screwed up the MC and Alice's relationship at the end of the old version, because he wanted to deliver something lewd to Alice before rebuilding the game, I don't know. So that's why it was so rushed and it was just lust, no love (at least the way I played it, it was that route).
So far I'm accepting Alice better in this version than in the old one, but it's just an opinion, I think the whole NTR thing weighs heavily on me. But I also think it's too early to draw any conclusions about it, like I'm still going to play again, because it looks like I missed some stuff here, but I saw Alice, I'm not going to say "best mom" anymore anyone who does what yours is. reach (in a crooked way) to give the best to the MC, and like I said the fact that she was forced this time suits me better too. And she also asks her friends for help to take care of her child in this version, if I'm not mistaken.
The fact is that no one but DEV knows where this is going, we can totally change our minds with the next updates, I might start thinking she's a bitch and you have more sympathy with her, it all depends on how the DEV writes. But the fact is, I like this way of playing better. I'm finding the game's dynamics much more fun. The meeting part seems more interesting and such. But as I said, it all depends on the DEV's ability to deliver in new updates.
Particularly I'm looking forward to more of this, I'm liking it and interested. But it could be that a big black stick appears in the middle of the road and spoils everything for me, so it's still too early for anything. I think the fact that you've played a game that is theoretically the original and then played one that's kind of an adaptation, you tend to compare and sometimes you can hate the fact that it's "different".
But even so it's understandable that many don't like this new version, diversity is a good thing. Different people, different tastes. I don't think anyone is wrong.
But thanks for all the clarification and showing me your pov, I like that. Thanks.
Good luck DEV, and may this work bring you much success.
