Hey, ralphie12k!
I'd like to take the time to answer some of your questions. But before I do that, I want to make something explicitly clear: Everything that I'm about to say comes from my point of view and takes into account my personal sense of aesthetics. I'm sure you won't agree with all (or maybe any) of it. To me, that's perfectly okay; as I said, it's totally cool to disagree on what we like and don't like about any kind of content (game, movie, music, whatever). Nobody's necessarily right or wrong.
Okay. Now, to my thoughts:
1. In my post, I mentioned that I was aware of Tali's connection to the Patreon. And while she might not be the most outlandish character, she's certainly outlandish enough to erode some of the enjoyment of the game for me.
To be clear, I don't dislike Tali. I just think that her presence in this story rings untrue.
2. A bit of context: In my professional life, I'm a published author. I write fiction in a lot of different genres. I say that to establish the fact that the concept of suspension of disbelief is something I deal with on an everyday basis -- and it's very important to me. This relates directly to Tali and to the Ninja (which I'll discuss in a moment). Furthermore, I also went to college on a sports scholarship. That's also important to understanding why I feel like I do.
The reason I got into this game in the first place was because of the sports connection. I ended up sticking around because Braindrop impressed me with the story he was writing and the characters he'd crafted. I was excited to see how he'd tell a story to which I had some personal insight. But as time has gone on...the former student/athlete in me reads the story and just can't maintain suspension of disbelief anymore. And the writer side of me is seeing what was once a fairly plausible story starting to really stretch thin.
3. Whether they look like a ninja or are an actual Ninja doesn't matter much to me. You may know this already (and forgive me if you do), but the term jumping the shark is a term that relates to an episode of the old television show Happy Days, in which the Fonzie character jumps his motorcycle over a shark tank. Essentially, it's describing how far-fetched events are introduced into a story for the sake of novelty, indicative of a decline in the story's quality.
We started at the beginning of the story with a talented athlete's tale as they enter college. So far, so good. We started to bend credulity with the harem, thing...but I could endure that as part of the story's conceit (it's a porn game, after all). Now...we have over a score of women in this harem, runaway princesses, and masked guardian angels that may or may not be ninjas. To me...those are the "far-fetched" events that define the term I chose.
4. I think our difference of opinion with the renders stems from the fact that I started to play the game from v0.1, well over a year ago. To you, the change may not seem all that drastic. But when you've consumed the story over a long period of time, it's a lot more jarring. Perhaps you don't see it that way, and I can accept that. heck, maybe it's just my own perception of things and I'm out of line. But for me, it's very real.
Anyway, there you go. I hope that answers some of your questions! And again, your opinions are absolutely fair and reasonable when it comes to your particular take on the game. If you think I'm wrong, I'm all right with that and am glad none of my concerns get in your way of enjoying the game. These are just really big obstacles for me. For now, insurmountable ones.
JD
