Its definitely an engaging WIP with this many posts per day dealio.
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I’d say it’s not so much they’re facing consequences, but they remain emotionally immature and rather than acknowledge and own up to their fuckups they mostly act like “We don’t talk about Bruno Seven”.
I’d argue the right answer was to realize that none of the band members had first clue about marketing, data analysis or what their fan base even was, much less how it could develop, so any moves like “let’s demote one of our singers because apparently people like these pieces less” was just a stupid knee jerk action rooted in nothing but ignorance. As opposed to something that’d “save their dream”.
Especially when the original dream in question was “let’s make a band where we can all play together (presumably on equal terms)” as opposed to “let’s make a band and then throw some of us under the bus on a faint chance it’ll help us get more famous”.
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I reread the POV you mentioned—at least I think that’s the one—and it brought up an issue I have with the whole vote situation. The narrative only works, imo, if the MC voted in favour of the demotion. The internal monologue in that POV seems to reflect that. I just don’t see someone who voted against it thinking that way—but that’s just my take.
Still, even if they did vote to demote Seven, the MC was between a rock and a hard place: give up on their dream or give up on their lover/best friend (but at the time of the vote they didn’t know it was a real possibility). There’s no right answer, it’s up to the player which way to lean. But that doesn’t make the MC a sociopath, just a deeply flawed character, like everyone else in the story.
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I actually thought that particular part reflected very well the thoughts of an MC who did not vote to demote Seven. There was some kinf of uncetainty in its tone, like MC justifying why they didn’t stand up for Seven even if the majority was against them.
MC comes off to me as just very naive in thinking that just because Seven seemingly accepted the decision or because they’re all close friends, things would go down well.
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A POV set as did vote Seven out. Yep, I can ignore it as nothing important then.
Adding: The justification stuff. I keep ignoring it and say, yep, balls in your court Seven. As intended to be friends/friendly/respectful. And didnt it change the voting as did NOT take part in on rewrite? I recall it was changed.
@LiliArch Its why I dropped a friend 10+ years. After saying bi/gay/etc is a choice, made by those around them. Forgetting the fact many were brought up in very conservative strict homes. Seven is an easy dump off along with others. Bye-bye ‘friends’.
I mean, if I had a friend who first claimed accepting something and then later would bring that very same thing up as something totally unforgivable, I would stop having them as my friend faster than I can sneeze.
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I mean i always made my stance very clear that i was on Seven’s side when it comes to the whole vote thing lol I just don’t think it’s black or white when it comes to MCs who didn’t vote them out.
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Speaking of the flashbacks… I finally finished the sneak peek and it was one of those times for me where the narrative starts to fall apart. I was rereading passages several times and scratching my head. I’m starting to see why certain things - like Seven being the PC’s potential ex instead of just close friend, weren’t in the original idea. Because those flashbacks reflected so callously on the PC that I was genuinely confused at what I was reading, and since I play with Seven as the PC’s ex it was even colder.
I still think, of course, there’s a lot we haven’t seen but the way this reads currently is that the PC did not hold Seven anywhere near the same esteem that Seven held them. I get that they didn’t want to upset the band because blah blah people pleaser, we already know that, but that doesn’t change the fact that Seven still deserved better from them. It’s a genuine relief to me for Seven that they walked away. That they have Soft Violence now.
Because if that’s really how the PC was thinking and behaving back then after the vote, that’s… not how you would act if someone that’s family to you was basically thrown out of their band. And it’s definitely not how you would act if you felt that Seven deserved better in the situation and wanted to help them get that, either in that band or by propping them up to find or make another one. I’ve had more sympathy for strangers tripping on the street than the PC had for Seven being voted out of their position and dreams with their friends and band. I’m not sure if it’s intentional and the PC is being purposefully obtuse for some reason or if they’re supposed to be so self-focused in those flashbacks?
For such a central plot point I don’t think it’s being handled by the narrative with the care it needs. If the intent is for the PC to have been that focused on themselves and the other bandmates at the expense of Seven then okay, fine. But it’s so at odds with everything we were told about their relationship with Seven and everything we’ve seen in the game beforehand. I get that we need conflict with Seven and the PC has never been shown to be perfect or blameless to begin with but it gets to a point where it’s not adding up. The only thing that remains consistent is Seven’s feelings for the PC and that the PC prioritizes their band no matter what it costs them.
I came away from that sneak peek with far more respect for Seven and what they went through but I am feeling very differently about all of the characters past together. There’s a bad taste in my mouth and I have no clue how intentional that is, hence why I think this needs more care. So again, I’m just scratching my head and I’ll send in my feedback once we have the full chapter because as of right now, I’m still sitting here dumbfounded.
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That seems rather arbitrary, when one could argue that someone pretending to be fine with something they really weren’t could be very well caused by their sense of friendship with you (“i don’t want to let them down by making a thing out of it”) and/or hoping that your supposed best friend would actually see through the facade that no, things obviously aren’t okay.
I mean, you’d be effectively dropping them as a friend for trying to be a good friend. Which has certain irony to it.
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People who start fights with me because I’m not a mind reader aren’t my friends, simple as that. If they really were that good a friend, they would have said something earlier instead of silently holding a grudge. Just expecting someone to realize you’re not okay when you’re doing your best to pretend you are isn’t behaviour I accept in a friend, especially since if they knew me that well they would know I would assume that even if I did notice they’re not okay, which isn’t a given, I’d assume they’re trying to hide it because they don’t want to talk about it.
If they’re not venting, then yes, I would expect them to be okay, or at least that they’d prefer me going on as if everything is okay unless they tell me otherwise, and if they truly were my BFF, they’d know that. I would, in absolutely no case, expect them to start yelling at me when I behave in a way that to me appears to be the expected one. People who yell at me for reasons I don’t understand and refuse to believe I don’t understand them aren’t my friends.
Not everyone deals with social interactions the same way.
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When a person stares at another. The idea of their staring is technically clueless. Unless they give away what they are thinking via not holding the staring and motions of other muscles.
So, you say your fine. I can’t tell. Flinch, blink or something. Please? How else am I supposed to know anything with just a stare? No anger, no emotion, so, uh, whats going on?
So let’s say theoretically, your friend is going through a divorce. They insist they’re fine even when you were at the wedding, you saw how happy they were together, you saw how they were so in love, you saw how they always talked about plans for the future together. Would you actually believe they’re fine and go on as if nothing ever happened or… would you realize they’re obviously hurting, maybe don’t know how to talk about it, support them silently and be there for them?
The PC somehow not knowing Seven is clearly hurt but pushing it down for the sake of the band and their own sake doesn’t make sense because everyone and their mother knew that this was Seven’s dream too and it had been the case since high school. The narrative told us this was Seven’s dream. Several, several, several times. They weren’t okay, I as the reader knew they weren’t okay, the PC should have known they weren’t okay. So they knew and just didn’t care? Were they remaining purposefully obtuse even when it was clearly hurting Seven? I just don’t think these are the questions I should be coming away with about the PC.
Of course, but this goes beyond social interactions. The flashback displays a fundamental ignorance of who Seven is. In the case that the PC and Seven truly had never understood each other that fundamentally, then yeah I agree with you, no relationship will work for all PCs to begin with and for many people’s PC they and Seven are better off apart (and after the sneak peek, I’m kind of leaning this way for the canon myself, to be real with you).
So, while I understand where you’re coming from I still don’t think it makes sense for the canonical PC to fundamentally misunderstand Seven to that degree, not see they’re hurting and how badly that was handled, and to move on like nothing happened. The narrative has given us no reason to believe the PC would do any of that, especially because it’s the PC’s POV stating so frequently that this was their dream with Seven. It just doesn’t make sense from a storytelling perspective.
I’m relieved it’s not just me. I was reading several times trying to make sense of a PC that just… didn’t have an ounce of sympathy or understanding for their closest friend’s obvious hurt? And it’s so, so, much worse if they’re exes. I feel similar to you that more information upfront might help this not be such a shock if this is intended, and will definitely send my feedback forward once we get the full chapter because either it’s canonical that the PC was truly just that cold and indifferent to Seven, which again doesn’t make sense, or there’s something being miscommunicated. It’s a first draft and sneak peek so I’m holding onto my feedback for that reason.
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I also had several instances where I had to reread a paragraph because it didn’t quite make sense for my character or for the story overall. I understand the choice to slow-drip the vote and the fight, but I think the narrative might have benefited from a prologue that starts with the fight. That way, the MC’s feelings and actions could be established early on (with some things still left hidden/vague), and those choices could then ripple throughout the story, allowing the player to make more informed decisions.
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Haha, the progression of this whole conversation is exactly what I meant when I said we’d all come down on this differently. We’re all very different people, with different life experiences, personalities, and expectations from our loved ones–all of which is deeply intertwined with how we’re interpreting this part of the story.
I’m not sure we’ll ever be done deliberating on The Vote and the relationship between Seven and the MC/the band. We’ll certainly never all agree.
Seriously, same! 
It’s one of those things where it’s hard not to take at least a little bit of it personally. Which maybe is a testament to the characters that Amy writes.
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Haha, yeah. And I certainly see enough of myself in the MC that seeing people go all judgemental on them really gets under my skin.
This isn’t about every single grievance, this is about a very major grievance that’s significant enough to end up in a friendship-ending fight.
The idea would be to deal with it before it turns into raging.
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Do you voice every single grievance you ever have with anyone, and never keep it to yourself in hope that maybe you’ll get over it? And do you expect your friends to treat you in this manner?
Because, please don’t take it wrong way, but that sounds tiresome as fuck to be on the receiving end. Plus, i’m not convinced such approach would cause people to view Seven any more positively, if they were just raging on MC for “betraying them” from the get-go.
The thing is, we don’t know if it actually does better, because we have no idea how it’d perform over time in the alternative timeline where they kept the original arrangement. For all we know, they could’ve gathered tons of new fans who would actually appreciate the combination of MC and Seven, unlike the initial few fans they had. After all, Seven certainly does seem to have chops to be main singer, going by their eventual success. So reducing them to backup role seems like complete waste of a talent.
I mean, we know that they gain some fans (which is pretty normal for a band as long as you don’t plain suck) but is that more fans they’d otherwise gain with the original setup? There’s no way to know (other than The Word of the Author)
Where, exactly does it say that? I don’t recall any such statement, and the game is narrated from MC’s perspective so i also don’t quite get what you mean here by “the game, not a character”.
This seems highly unlikely given they’ve beaten literally thousands of bands in order to get their spot in the show. There’s also no one in the game who would make such statement about Seven. If their singing was as terrible as Blake’s songwriting you’d expect to see it mocked more than once, in the same fashion Blake is.
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Seven and MC... under the cut, so it doesn't take up the whole damned page
Thank you!! I couldn’t see my MC thinking that way, either. Like I said, none of mine voted to get rid of Seven, and I can’t see them being happy with the result, despite the “majority” vote. I could see them being in turmoil–wanting to fix it and acknowledging that this is Seven’s dream, too, and that the band essentially snatched it from them, but not knowing how to fix it–but to think the way they did in that scene? Hell no.
Exactly. With Seven as an ex, the MC’s internal monologue is just… well, to me, it’s unforgivably cold and self-centered. I can’t buy that an MC thinking those thoughts actually loved Seven at all, even as a bff. I read it to my husband and he had the same reaction as me–that’s not someone in love, it’s someone who cares only about themselves.
I still don’t like SV (they remind me of the characters in “Mean Girls”), but I’m glad Seven walked away, too, and I don’t blame them for screwing all of MC’s friends and rubbing their nose in it. That Seven actually still cares for the MC is amazing, even if they try to hide it behind a mountain of hate. MC doesn’t deserve that kind of devotion.
The funny part is now “future” Seven’s behavior in the “relationship” with the MC that we see in the VD special makes a hell of a lot of sense. I don’t think I’d give the MC a chance at all. But, if I did, you can guarantee I’d be holding back just like Seven will apparently do. MC would never get all of me again, and sure as hell wouldn’t get first spot in my life again. So yeah, I can’t blame them for making MC only a tiny part of their life going forward.
Same. Honestly, at this point, I think Seven is a better person than all of them. And I certainly think they deserve better than the self-absorbed asshat of the MC.
Exactly.
No, Seven was not doing fine. But what good did it do to say so at that point? The decision was made. They already had their dream snatched from them, and their bff/lover stood by and either had a part it in or watched it happen and then expected Seven to be okay with it. That MC asked if they were okay didn’t change the fact that it was done and MC had proven to be a shitty friend/lover. Worse, the MC was so self-centered that they couldn’t understand why Seven was upset. This shouldn’t require mind reading abilities–anyone with a heart could understand why Seven was upset! So fuck off, MC. You suck.
This is such a great comparison. Similarly, if someone loses someone they love and say they’re fine, anyone who knows the situation would know it’s not true and would try to offer silent support, if not verbal support.
I agree. I think we should’ve known upfront that, no matter what choices we make, not only is our MC a people-pleaser, they also suffer from a complete lack of empathy, never really cared much for Seven even if they were lovers, and were fine with Seven getting voted out of the band. Then, we can decide how to play them from there.
Honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the MC was fucking around behind Seven’s back. And, if confronted, they would see nothing wrong with it. That’s just the type of person they seem to me now.
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I don’t know if this was changed in the rewrite, but in the earlier version I read, they were right: the band DOES better when Seven and the MC are no longer co-main singers.
It is, because the game literally tells you it is. If you’re going to not believe it when the game (not a character in the game, the game) outright tells you that, why would you believe anything else it does? Maybe Seven is actually a terrible singer. You only have the game’s word for it otherwise.
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I had the same impression.
Anyway. I didn’t find anything out of credibility with 7’s and MC’s relationship. Seen something like that many times, been there done that a little.
7 is someone who, when asked “Are you alright?” goes “I’m fine 
” and expects the other one either to be clairvoyant or go “No, but what is really bothering you? Plz plz plz tell me please!”. MC is not one of those. They either take “I’m fine” for face value or are simply unwilling to poke a festering boil, which is also understandable.
Unfortunately, festering boils tend to explode anyway when not attended to → they fight and 7 dumps (romance status not important here, friendships die just as heartrendingly) MC. Only…not really. It’s telegraphed pretty clearly how painfully not over 7 is about MC, and that’s because 7 did not really dump MC. They ran from them, expecting MC to chase, catch, hug and kiss the tears away while whispering “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to”. MC, again, took the dumping for face value and is trying to move on, how successfully is for the player to decide, but either way it hurts 7 even more and leaves them in a very bad place from where they cannot move on, because for them nothing is over in the first place.
And that’s all that. Just two normal young humans being humans.
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I disagree with this. This seems to be taking for granted that the band/MC somehow saw moving Seven to backup as basically throwing them out, when (regardless of how any of us personally feel about moving them to backup) I think they’ve really all convinced themselves that Seven is taking one for the team or something; Seven’s sacrifice here is (at least in their minds) for the band’s success. The band that will help realize Seven’s music dreams. Why would they ever leave, especially when they’ve been insisting since the vote that they’re fine?
I don’t buy into the “well of course friends/partners would always understand that someone isn’t really fine” because, well… obviously not in this case? And that doesn’t make these characters involved awful people. Are they being bad friends right now? Yeah. Are they being good characters? Also yeah, though ymmv.
However any of us personally feel about everyone’s choices, I feel like that can be assumed to be the characters’ perspective. Seven took one for the team. Maybe they’re all lying to themselves about that. Maybe they’re ignoring some writing on the wall. Maybe Seven is lying to everyone and themself that they’re fine. Maybe MC is a doormat and sort of obtuse. Maybe all of the above. This is a melodrama, lol.
I honestly feel like the vote and the fallout make a lot of sense, even if I don’t know all the details yet.
It never came to pass, so I don’t think this matters unless we’re treated to some canonical alternate timeline where it did and they do.
And honestly I gotta reiterate that these are characters–good characters–not people we need to pass judgment on. Characters can and should be kind of shitty sometimes. Keeps things interesting.
Look, I know, I saw that but like… we all clearly have different takeaways here. You may feel this way, but I think this part of story tracks. I disagree with your critique of the storytelling, which I think is based in some slightly off interpretations of what’s on-page (key among them being the fact that the band saw moving Seven to backup was tantamount to forcing them out). I just think that’s a misreading.
I also don’t see this; you can be very close and even co-dependent and still miss things. Still misinterpret them. Still be self-centered. Still be pulled in different directions. These two were never written to be each other’s perfect match, working in perfect harmony, or something. And even if all of these characters begin this journey as a band on the same page, clearly they’ve landed on different pages over time.
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