Apparently a lot of people don't like the change made to Elyon in version 0.8.
That means i'm one of those rare people that do. Not that i didn't like what we had before.
It's not that people don't like it ( I like it too, btw) but the fact that story branch become a soft one make totally no sense at this time, because Rick is an awful douchbag with the others girls in the current game.
Def a good idea for the two options of gameplay, and as for the story not making sense when comparing the new and old content, just look at the story lines of the two sisters, those are fucked. At first you are going down the romance with the older sister and everything is progressing great until you suddenly tell her who you are and blackmail her with her sister. Shit like this makes no sense, why bother pretending to go down one path if you are just going to jump ship mid way through. Perhaps he already has plans for the two branches? Although I doubt it.
You misunderstood something, Cedric is a douchbag, thought to be a douchbag ( at least, before the Soft way was implement ). His purpose is to find Elyon, the heir of the throne, and bring her to her brother Phobos who wanna steal all her magic. But before, he need to take her virginity, willingly, because if he forces her there is a risk her magic become out of control. And secondary, he need to fuck the five gardian of the veil, the W I T C H, because his semen corode magic, making them weaker. But here, he can act as he want. It's absolutly not a romance. At first, he try to seduce Cornelia, but she stopped because she has a boyfriend. So he uses kidnapping. For Taranee, he not even try to talk with her before blackmailing her, and it even cause a suicide. For Irma, blackmail too, and with false accusation. The only girl he seems to become closer without being an asshole, is Will, and her mother. And for Hay Lin, it's stupid, because she liked him a lot, they surely could be closer just by helping her and talking, but he jumps on the rat invasion for blackmailing her ... So, there was no romance before the Elyon storyline change, just a guy who could do anything to success. The fact he could really approch the girls without ruining theirs lives is really new, and I think a real romance with cornelia is for another update.