u/dpete88

I was finally able to catch up my various playthroughs to the new content and for the most part enjoyed the changes but there were two parts that really bother me a lot.

1st of all I found it incredibly strange that the "fantasy" that Melissa has at the end of .14 turns out to be real and the player was never given the chance to opt out of it or not. Just because I flirted occasionally with Melissa or was kind to her doesn't mean I would have chosen to cheat on whoever I was with and mess up the friendship with Erynn. I have plenty of heart points with Emily as well but I'd also never make MC fuck his mom. It just seemed like a weird choice for what was supposed to be innocent flirting with your moms best friend to turn into a real hook up, especially with everything else going on in the story at that time. MC can be dumb sometimes but still would have liked the choice to stop it in its tracks.

2nd, I'm royally pissed off at Nyx for some lazy and rushed writing on the Ethan arc. On more than one occasion Erynn or some one else says something along the lines of "ethan's an ass but he's not stupid" only for him to end up pulling a gun on John and doing something incredibly stupid. I don't know if they had originally planned something else for the arc and wanted to cut it short to free up Erynn for real romancing or something but turn of events seems out of character for Ethan. What could he have possibly seen as a good outcome or getting Erynn to do what he wanted after this? I thought he was going to play the magnanimous card and reunite Erynn with John like he was a hero or something but instead we get a weird violent power trip like that is going to solve all his problems. And yes I know he gets rough with Val if she helped you that one time in the alley and being a cunt isn't out of character for him but if he was able to put together the network he has now he would have been smart enough to know that showing up to the garage to try and intimidate John wouldn't get him anywhere and he would have been better off setting a trap for him instead when he sets up the escorting with Erynn. The whole thing feels incredibly rushed and out of place, especially if you aren't on Vals path and see the other stuff that Ethan does.

I'm also just fed up with cliffhangers inbetween AVN chapters as a whole because they don't always work out well once everything is released and just seem like random extra drama. Like when Erynn doesn't answer her phone and you see the dead body in the dumpster might have been a good cliffhanger at the time but now the very next scene is Melissa calling to tell you she's fine and it feels very forced for the sake of forcing drama. This cliffhanger with the gunshot is causing me zero anxiousness because I know the first few lines of the next update are going to show us everyone is fine. My guess is the shot missed Iris as she charged at Ethan and MC walks in with her smacking him with the wrench or maybe we will get lucky and Zach will be shot and he'll survive but stop being a douchecunt. Anyways if I'm already 15 chapters into a story I don't need ANOTHER cliff hanger to keep me engaged, I'll still read the next chapter even if this one ends with MC snuggled up next to your LI of choice with a contented smile on his face and no extra unnecessary drama.

Anyways TLDR not getting the option to opt out of Melissa is dumb and Ethan's ending feels like a lazy rushed hack job but the rest of the update was great. The end.

edit to add I just wish the Ethan situation was closed up based off something that MC or the group did and not just handed an easy out and while yes MC did get John involved so he escalated it, it would have been better if they recorded him doing something shady to take him down or something.