I don’t think you have to hope. I think all the romances will either be bittersweet or just bitter. Bittersweet will be as happy as you get.
Oh, I agree. I’m already sinking into MC hate, since they’re clearly the villain in every way with Seven (now confirmed by the author). It’s miserable to play a character that is everyone’s punching bag, but after seeing the “vote” fallout and MC being too fucking stupid or selfish to understand that 7 was not okay with basically being thrown out of their own band? MC deserves every bit of misery and then some (and it’d be fun to play a MC who realizes this and just stoically takes the constant emotional and karmic beatings they get).
So fuck the MC… I’m almost glad they probably won’t get a very happy ending, even for the ones who are basically nice and caring. It’d just be more entertaining if they could ruin everyone else’s life when all is said and done, instead of everyone else getting a happy-walking-into-the-sunset ending. But hey… karma.
I think chapter 4 will be where we start to see branching paths start to kick in (yay), so with the G choice Im betting we’ll get multiple flavors of romance route depending on what you go with. I could totally see the ‘stay away’ path playing out like you describe. And yeah lol…that sneak peek had me like GREAT G now everyone’s gonna scrutinize THAT and run their mouths about it. Subtle as a bulldozer.
To be honest, I think the band is the real villain in all of this. MC has no voice of his own and is pliable like plaster, so there’s essentially no will of his own - he only changes when there’s actually a reason to drive a wedge between him and the band, and the band is quick to express irritation and annoyance when MC shows spine and backbone. It’s essentially molding into something convenient… but if he doesn’t have any spine, why does Sev even like him in the canonical timeline where they were together for three years or so?
I just can’t figure out this people-pleasing shite. It’s getting annoying to figure out how MC even survives in the industry if he’s so weak to peer pressure as to kick out his bloody boyfriend he started the band with.
Victoria gets a lot of (justified) smoke for dragging MC to the penthouse, but if G hadn’t forced them all to the diner, it would have been a nonissue. I have a hard time being angry at Victoria after experiencing 0.01% of what she’s had to put up with.
Basically: friendship ended with G now Victoria is my best friend
LITERALLY. Even if it’s just G’s terrible attempt at creating public distance with MC so MC stops getting accused of being a cheater and/or starfucker, now it looks they hate MC, which is just gonna make everyone talk about them more
I have a massive beef with G and V, even though I really like them both, but they should really stay away from my MC or else they are getting sprayed like two annoying bugs! I don’t think they are bad people but they are so self-absorbed that they don’t even care they are dragging an innocent third party into their mess and they don’t stop for a second to think how the situation is gonna look to other people.
I also don’t think that was the intention because obv that depends on the player but playing as a female MC the SV scene gets so misogynistic so fast like who else do you think I slept with to get on this show, the whole crew plus Victor? I wanted to be friends with them eventually but they need to be humbled real quick me thinks. Definitely humiliating, especially combined with G snippet, like leave me alone bruh… Very excited for chapter 4 though!!
I know and that’s why even when it’s obnoxious, I can never judge them too harshly. They’re working under the only frame of reference they have. I do believe they really want to help MC and that’s the worst part—that their fame is such a overwhelming force that the best way to help them would be by doing the one thing they don’t want to do: staying away.
A lot of things in the game are recontextualized when you think through the implications of the situation for a female MC v. a male MC. Like, goodness, female MCs are stronger the Marines because I know the forums in-universe are going crazy. I’m sure male MCs are also getting called all kinds of names, but it’s more socially acceptable for men to be unrepentant whores.
It also bugged me so much when Kieran, I think, said something like, “I would have cheated too if that was on the table” like first of all, you would never be in that position with Victoria, so jot that down.
Not to be a G apologist but I am pretty sure the G sneak peek is related to the branch where you say “I think we should stay away from each other”, I remember when I read that scene it surprised me to see how devastated G was. G and MC are kind of just dipping their toes in and very much in the “fantasy” mindset so I don’t see that big stark difference happening just yet unless you told them to stay away from you. It would surprise me because I’m sure every route will have very dramatic ups and downs, this is Infamous, but I don’t see G acting that way to someone they’re brazenly romancing and dancing around the elephant in the room with. But we’ll see soon enough!
I think you’re right and it’s almost definitely based on whether MC told them to stay away because it’s a pretty abrupt 180 to go from G’s giddy relief at MC not being upset to swerving them and I wonder if the decision to look for Victoria instead of hearing them out will have any impact.
A lot of G’s reactions make so much sense when you remember that their little friendship/flirtation with MC is one of the only moments of organic connection they’ve had since they were a teenager. G, my beloved
Yeah it doesn’t “excuse” G’s behavior because it was definitely petty. Especially considering MC is valid in wanting to stay away from G so I do get it if people are turned off from that haha. But I don’t mind personally because it feels more like lashing out because they got crushed.
Yeah, like I’m all in for disliking G for being a reckless adultchild who is putting their career first and has definitely done messy shit in the past for their career. But taking a step back, they’ve been given so much shit ever since they let Viktor into their life and brought into the spotlight at 16.
I can’t remember everything, but they don’t really have anyone on their side? There’s some intense issues with their parents, their (significantly) older bandmates doesn’t have any attachments with G aside from a professional relationship (they did nothing when G turned to drinking and drugs while underage?), Viktor is their only consistent adult figure (he’s a PoS honestly) who keeps G on a leash, hell, even their wife isn’t someone they can turn to completely. Victoria is doing this for clout, influence and her career, she gets treated like shit by G, but she answers to Viktor and helps him control G, no surprise their marriage is in the dumps.
I’m also really invested to know what’s going on in G’s brain, they burned bridges with Blake and is currently on the road of self-destruction because of what the music industry did to them. The small snippets of ‘‘don’t meet your heros’’ to ‘‘I can’t be alone because my thoughts will consume me’’ like, ehem, how broken are you? They also actively yearn for a meaningful and organic relationship after a decade of being surrounded by fakes in the industry (nevermind that they chose to go down this path, but at 16? I wouldn’t be surprised if Viktor trained them to be obedient since the start, or there’s a contract preventing G from doing much which is disturbingly normal for the industry)
Yeah itd make the most sense. That huge approval hit with G if you pick that choice has to rear its ugly head somewhere lol.
Yeah and its also like MC, this person who G sees so much talent and potential in and is basically vouching for to the point they cant help but show their not so subtle favoritism, a person who genuinely gets G excited about music again, doesnt want to be around G now. Its like a cold confirmation landing on the already sky high pile of self loathing they have in regards to people not wanting to stick around, seeing G as too much trouble to be worth it. G has like no freakin friends
While that ch. 4 snippet made me oof, I really like it. G seems to be overtly bitter about it all and is acting out. The drama is too good.
I wanna say I’ve been enjoying the game so far as at times its a real page turner but my god is the drama just so incessent and unrelenting. I expected something more in the vain of Choice of Rockstar but instead I got Love & Hiphop.
I don’t think I’m going to continue this as I’m at the point of just dreading reading another Black and Seven encounter.
I don’t now why its so hard for there to just be another music themed CYOA without all the bs added on to it
Eh, depends on your MC. Some would totally be like, “Mass fame, fuck yeah.”
Fairly sure the reason for Infamous high popularity is that added drama i.e. “the bs” as you chose to call it. It’s basically all that gets talked about, whenever the game is brought up, and it’s brought up often.
isnt the main reason for the drama all over the place is because its a TV reality show…keep up the great work author because I cant wait to get back to my moody irrational seven drama
You just have to approach it from the right angle to make it work. The first thing to understand is that the MC has a forced history wherein they proved to be a disloyal shit who refused to stand by the one person in the world who ever really cared about them. The fact that this is forced and is the foundation of the entire story should tell you all you need to know.
It doesn’t matter if they voted to “keep” Seven or not, they’re still disloyal and horrible for betraying their bff/lover. They literally don’t deserve anything good to happen to them, so when something does, karma will come back and bitch slap them in the face with a sledgehammer.
Yes, almost all of the characters are unstable, unhinged, self-absorbed, cruel, sadistic, and/or irrational, but MC is the villain of the story, which is why they are constantly tortured by the narrative and other characters. It’s why anything good that happens to them is almost immediately ruined (get into the competition? get called a cheater and have your accuser join the competition, too! win the first competition? get ruined even more by videos of a situation of which you had no control!). But MC deserves it, because they are a horrible person. It’s only going to get worse for them, too. Instead of railing against it, embrace it. I can’t wait to see how MC gets kicked in the head by the narrative next!
Once you approach it with this knowledge, you stop dreading the MC abuse and applaud it. You can pick one or more NPCs with whom to side and revel in watching the MC be repeatedly kicked while they’re down. When the “redeemable” MCs (the ones who grovel enough and take the abuse with a smile) get their bittersweet ending, it will be satisfying to see that they earned it after being rofflestomped for 20 chapters. And when the irredeemable MCs get horrible ends–because haven’t repented enough for all their misdeeds and taken their narrative beating with grace–it should likewise be satisfying.
Subtle as a bulldozer.
now Victoria is my best friend 
and that’s why even when it’s obnoxious, I can never judge them too harshly. They’re working under the only frame of reference they have. I do believe they really want to help MC and that’s the worst part—that their fame is such a overwhelming force that the best way to help them would be by doing the one thing they don’t want to do: staying away.
first of all, you would never be in that position with Victoria, so jot that down.
