Alright I've been meaning to post this for two days but kept getting sidetracked: the music tier lists, and making a new sig, and the discussions, and the memes, but now I'm focused.
Say Something Nice About the Girl You Hate Most
Right off the bat, no easy targets like Madame, Becky, Sally or Madame.
Stick to lewdable girls, so no Hamburger Beth or the feminists. The Main Girls and the recurring cast of Side Girls—HOTs, teachers, Zoey, etc—are who I had in mind, but if you think of another girl who isn't low-hanging fruit then be my guest.
I want this to be a genuine discourse made in good faith, so please no backhanded compliments or being a huge sarcastic asshole. Other than that, I don't want to hamper anyone.
I'll start: there's very few girls that I actually hate, but just for the sake of discussion, I'm going with alady herself,
Josy
Episode 11 did her no favors in my eyes, without a doubt my least favorite MG now. But I actually admire how she got everything off her chest during the hallway talk with Maya.
Throuple or not, her relationship with Maya is not working, and needs to be taken care of. Of all the uncertainty and doubt she's been feeling, the only thing she knows for sure is that she has strong feelings for MC, regardless of the circumstances. She is finally putting herself before others, and that isn't always easy to do. It is in stark contrast to how she handled things in Episode 4, afraid to speak her mind in fear of losing both Maya and MC, and again when she did not agree with the idea of "no strings attached" in the next episode.
Seems like a good post to jump in on.
Preface it with this. I've done only 2 play thru's so far have only tried this VN this past week for the first time. So everything I'm about to say is pretty fresh first impressions.
To begin with, which of the main gals do I hate the most... trick question for me because to answer that I have to first answer WHY I hate them the most. So I'll start there.
Character I hate the most as a person - Quinn
Character I hate the most because of story - Maya/Josy
Character I hate the most because it frustrated me - Zoey / Quinn
I hate Quinn as a person, she's a nasty, selfish, sadistic bitch with few redeeming qualities. If I were the MC, I'd have long since been plotting her nasty downfall and bad end. I didn't like Rio initially because of her association with Quinn and the shit Quinn is doing, and also cause I hate tattoos, but I did warm to Rio later in the story and eventually had a soft spot for her which made what happen to her later in Season 3 a bit of a gut punch. While Quinn in the end seems to genuinely care about Rio, like Zoey she only realizes that after its FAR too late.
Maya and Josy are a package deal for me on story. There is so much about their story path I find really frustrating and it just seem to stop. My 2nd play thru I chose them as the MCs LI. I didn't mind the problems so much as I hated all the missed opportunities and how these two can't seem to really get it together. I like Josy and over time came to really warm up to Maya (especially once they do get a relation ship going with the MC and you learn more about her family and problems). But there are just so many missed opportunities in their story to really explore and develop their relationship which is moving forward pretty fast. After a rough and frustrating start (which was okay, the problems made sense as I learned more about them), they seemed to be doing well, only to seem derailed again in Season 3. Season 3 in itself ended with a whole month being rushed thru and a lot of potential story missed (like the MC, Maya and Josy going Christmas shopping together for example, that would have been nice to have seen), not to mention Josy seemed increasing lost since the Halloween Party and while I can understand Maya being to distracted with her family, nobody seems to much notice. Josy says she'll talk to the MC about it, but more than a month goes by and she never does. Its not to the end that we find out how she really feels and even then, she's talking to Maya and the MC isn't there. It left me feeling like a relationship I'd tried to make choices to nuture in the previous chapters was being allowed to wither with no choice to stop that... for... no reason. I feel like there are so many missed opportunities with their story. Choices that should make a difference but don't (like warning Maya about Quinn, I tried it both ways and warning or not warning her seemed to make no difference, Maya's story played out the same as far as I could tell). So much is also written on the assumption that even if they don't end up in a relationship that they're automatically best friends. In my first play thru where I was sort of "mashing all the buttons" at the point of the relationship decision early on he'd gotten 6 pts on the DIK scale and so after chasing him for several days wanting to talk, both Josy and Maya admitting they'd wasted multiple chances the MC had given them (for what... a relationship, it was never about just friendship with either of them, both were clearly very attracted to the MC and wanted an intimate and romantic relationship) and they ask for one more chance. MC relents and... friendzoned. And that's it... it instantly goes from this tense moment of possible reconciling into a relationship to.... "we're all best friends now".
I'm tied for which character I hate the most because they frustrate me the most.
I'll start with Zoey. Why did Zoey even need to be "resurrected"? I don't see the point other than another unecessary LI. It worse because first, we're past Crossroads where the MC already made the big decision about relationships. In my 2nd play thru, which was my first serious try at really paying attention to choices and "playing the role" of the MC, he'd gone with Maya and Josy. Things seemed to be going good for them finally, though there were problems that needed to be dealt with. Then Zoey shows up and Maya and Josy seem to fade into the background a lot. Zoey is aware the MC is in a serious relationship with them and yet she plows ahead anyway. There could have been better story here, one where they resolved their past feelings, processed all that and rebuilt their friendship. Instead Zoey becomes a rejected lover with it left hanging whether they'll remain friends when she shows up in the Spring, fast forward a month with NO contact from Zoey (so she ghosted the MC AGAIN)... if it were me... I'd write her off. Zoey is a hot mess, I wonder why she even came back. She honestly seemed happier on the West Coast. It almost seems like she came back to chase the MC... well... oops, sorry darlin, bad call. Her friend Brett gives her crap advice about talking to the MC (it was fine encouraging her to be honest, but he blew it in not getting Zoey to look at her own feelings more closely... when did she fall in love with the MC? Its a key question because Zoey didn't fall in love... she finally realized she HAD been in love with the MC in the past, he was maybe her first love too and she was his GF... back then. But that's not the same as being in love with the MC now, its mixing up past and present. Zoey is trying to recapture a past that doesn't exist anymore instead of accepting the present and that's going to cause both of them so much more pain. And that's why Bret's advice is crap). I would much rather Zoey had never been brought back and we'd had more focus on whoever the actual current LI was instead. But barring that, I wish Zoey had been given more interaction with whoever the MC's current LI relationship was, let her integrate with his life now and actually become his BFF again (though for my money Sage and Bella are hard to beat for BFF for the MC) Drop the her as a LI (process the past feelings and stuff, yes, but don't push her as a LI) UNLESS the MC is at that point not in a relationship (which is apparently an option according to the guide but I didn't see it) and then maybe they could rekindle things.
Quinn again, my other favorite problem child. There's a lot related to Quinn that feels unresolved to me... lose threads. Early on for some reason Quinn gives the MC her number and tells him about her "restaurant" which seemed a VERY risky thing to do with a guy she only recently met AND has pissed off... are we begging someone to call the cops dear Quinn? Then is seemed initially like Quinn was going to exploit Maya, groom her and eventually "put her on the menu". If not, why tease Maya with the free tuition which clearly is only given to those who prostitute for Quinn? The MC has the option to warn Maya, pretty much telling her what Quinn is doing and Maya doesn't get it... and then... nothing. Its never mentioned again. Its like the plot just got dropped. A couple chapters later the "restaurant" suddenly closes and you can no longer call Quinn about that... why... what happened... closed on account of COVID???? There are still scenes where the MC can buy sex from Sarah, Mel, Rio, and Carmilla, but... its like its just left over plot device that never got used. What happened to Mona never felt resolved to me so much as forgotten and then Maya and Josy return to the HOTs and... oh... they're all just a happy bunch of sorority girls, nothing to see here. That scene with Mona at the Alpha frat house leaving and Burke coming out. Replace that with MC is at the mansion on hell week, MC see's Burke coming out of the room adjusting his tie, MC moves closer and hears faint sound of girl crying, goes in... there's Maya, naked on the bed. Yeah, that'd been a bombshell. Maybe all that plot got dropped and swept "under the rug" because its got the potential to bring down everything, the whole university. I dunno. So much of Quinn's "master plans" are dumb ideas that fall apart and nobody who makes that many mistakes would still be in that business. They'd be dead or in jail.
Okay, went on for a bit there, but hope you indulged me. Its all new and fresh to me so lot of thoughts. So now that we know who I hate and why... on to the question.
Now to the original question? Say something nice about those I hate.
Quinn as a person - She's a great foible in the story. She's easy to blame for a lot of stuff she actually had nothing to do with (the Cathy post, the posters, blackmailing Chad, the DIK frat house getting trashed, etc.) which makes her a good distraction and red herring. Despite her "evil" nature, she can do some good things... sometimes. She can also be useful at times so there's some complexity to her character that keeps her from being a complete cliche' "bad guy". Also, the explanation about the tattoo / ermine symbol she wears was a nice touch and helped add some depth and explanation as to why she is who she is.
Maya and Josy - I did enjoy exploring their relationship path despite the problems I had with it and how Maya and Josy's relationship seems to be forever crumbling. Josy is fun, likeable, bubbly and cute. Not fond of the twin tails, but I loved her hair in the fairy costume at Halloween. Maya is distant at first, but watching her open up, learning to trust the MC and discovering she likes cock after all (or at least a specific one and the guy its attached too) was a sweet story and evolution. More of that please. There's potential with both of them to have a good relationship story of three people growing and maturing together, and I hope that happens (but I'm not optimistic).
Zoey - despite feeling frustrated with her addition, hogging a lot of time I'd rather spent with other characters, etc. Zoey's story did do a way better job of confronting hurt feelings, misunderstandings, etc. between two people and working to resolve them than the "Maya/Josy friend zoned you" path did. I like Zoey in general and if she and the MC were allowed to actually fully work things out I think they could become close friends again in a way that would make a good story and make sense. It could be interesting to use her to put the MC in the position Derek and Tommy are in regarding the MC and Maya/Josy. Zoey may not be his sister, but she was his first love and you never fully get over that... her hooking up with another DIK... or worse... flirting with a JOCK could be some good story and funny commentary from Derek and/or Tommy to the effect "now you know how we feel" if the MC is on the Josy/Maya path. It could also go really bad if Tommy used going after Zoey as a way to get back at the MC because of Josy... that could get explosive. Though Zoey did seem smart enough she wouldn't fall for Tommy.
I could ramble on about so much else, things I enjoyed and things I hated or was disappointed with... but I've done enough of that already.
