Small thing I’ve noticed playing through a trans male character (haven’t played to see if it is the same for trans female) but if you tell your family you’re dating same-gender Nat, your family does not register it as also coming out, so when the mother catches you after hanging out with/hooking up with Shay she acts surprised even if you had already been in a queer relationship
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@Sel_Lee Hi! Thanks very much for your feedback! I totally agree with you, and have made some tonal shifts to the Qiu funfair chapter to address this. I’m still working through adapting the Qiu dinner (dumplings) to make sure that if MC did not go to the funfair with Qiu, the uncertainty and lingering distrust/resentment shines through more.
As for this, I’ve added this comment should Qiu and MC do … ‘sexy things’ in the lunch restaurant, but I’ll also see where else to potentially add it/where it might also work.
Might need some elaboration on this? But I totally get that it seems like Qiu and MC got to the point of being lighthearted too quickly, especially for MCs who did not have lunch with Qiu before going to the funfair. Again, I think the newest edits to the funfair chapter might help make MC’s feelings towards Qiu feel more realistic given their past with each other. but I’ll also have a look at the Qiu dinner dumplings scene to see if additional edits need to be made 
@sequeltodogs Thanks for the heads-up! I think there’s something funky with how the variables are working for the transfem and transmasc routes for now, and I’ll definitely check it again this weekend!
Chapter 5 is out to the public!
Finally, I’m very excited to announce that I’ve put up the re-written / edited previous chapters + newest chapter (Chapter 5) up on the public Merry Crisis link, so that’s now available to EVERYONE! A day early, too!
A note that you’ll need to use new saves for this, as any old saves will break the game / result in funky variables.
As always, thank you so much for all your love and support, I can’t wait to share this chapter with you guys and hear what you think!! Thank you also for bearing with me (I know it’s been a hot sec) but it genuinely makes me so proud and happy to see this story take shape and near the last quarter of its narrative arc. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!
This newest chapter brings Merry Crisis to just over 300k words with the edits, and it is now 6 chapters (including prologue) into what I envision to be an 8 chapter IF (so one last climactic chapter + epilogue).
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As i said i don’t play a queer romance so maybe i’m totally wrong but i was basing my view on past comments’ from those who do. And i guess that since i felt with my f!mc and m!qiu that the conflicts in the past with Qiu weren’t resolved and there weren’t any deep discussions about their relationship (with the whole Qiu being passive when they were young and never fighting for MC etc), it would feel even more “lacking” for a same sex relationship. Especially in a route where MC decided to stay in Singapour. Idk i just feel like there needs to be a special conversation to be had about that specifically.
This being said, i’m really glad you took the time to consider all the criticism and made some additions. I haven’t played the new update yet but i’m sure it’s gonna be amazing and congrats on the release!!
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@burninglights why we can’t drive Shay’s motorcycle anymore 
?
So I’m playing gay mc and hiding that they were dating an African American man, but had told the parents that he had been dating and living with someone called Nat, but at some point Nat visited Singapore with the Mc when they were dating? How did that work? Did Mc stay at home and Nat in a hotel? Did he introduce Nat as a friend that has the same name as my partner but totally isn’t my partner?
And parents not seem to bring up that their child had had a break up and is still living with the person in NY
There’s a lot of changes in story both Shay and Qiu route, doesn’t mean I hate it but there’s some aspect that I love in the old version like how we flirt with Shay while driving the motorcycle or the flirting after Shay finish his performance.
On the other hand Qiu route is lovely and bittersweet and I’m grateful for MC to finally get the ‘sorry’ from Qiu and get to see the ‘real’ Qiu in the end.
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Hmm strange I did think I had added the motorbike scene back, but I’ll double check that!
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There’s the motorcycle scene but the option where MC have an option to ride it is non existence 
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Haha. It was there but wasnt triggering if you had chosen to drink beer. Ive made it less difficult to get to now though.
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But I don’t drink tho still don’t get that scene 
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First time playing, played the chapter 5 update. I have to say that I enjoyed Merry Crisis a lot. It’s grounded, immersive, believable, and enjoyable (+well written).
I love the family interactions, I love the family characters and close friend. The feelings that the relationships and connections give are familiar.
There are a lot of WIP’s that are enjoyable, but many of them are enjoyable because of fantastical or larger than life elements they have. You’ve done a really good job writing a captivating WIP with a simple and straight forward premise. That’s not common.
I do currently two points of feedback:
- I would an option for my family to use the MC’s Chinese name, while non-Singaporeans use the English given name.
Stats
TL;DR: Opaque, underused (?), from the opinion of a single playthrough.
This one is hard to give feedback on because I don’t know how much stats are used, involved, or planned. So grain of salt for a random uninformed opinion:
But they don’t seem to particularly increase that much currently, and I had very little idea which, if any, choices used or increased them.
While the game does remember previous choices and uses them (ex: job, telling parents about Nat), it doesn’t seem to particularly use the MC’s stats to the same effect, ie, no one seems to remark on your strongest or weakest stats as character traits.
The choice that made me realize that stats were actually used was the anti-social terse cousin (since I failed), but beyond that, nothing. It honestly seems like the game currently would run the same without the stat system/checks.
Random stuff I loved
- Translations being collected at the bottom.
- Being able to go back when viewing text messages.
- Heads up for when a choice leads to a romantic action.
- The Nat and Qiu scenes playing even if you didnt reminisce about them after an awkward family dinner.
- That one airport worker who lets you on after finding out you’re on NYCFC.
- Stories to explain choices after you’ve selected them. Ex: dad taking credit if you go football, mom taking if you’re in an indie band.
- Waiter being unhappy if you choose the same dish as Qiu.
- Kickin’ rocks.
- Slamming the door in your brothers face.
Thank you burninglights for writing this so far.
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This is PEAKKK. Love this story so much
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I love this so much. It’s been so lovely, there’s not enough stories like this.
I just wish Qui and the MC could have more of a discussion about the MC being trans, other than the offhand thing at the reunion dinner. Maybe I missed it with some of my choices, but along with the myriad of things that’s changed since you left home, I feel like that’s a pretty big one.
Otherwise tho, it’s made me tear up a bunch, it’s so well done.
Aww…did you cut the part where Indie rock star mc does a cover of that silly Christmas song with Shay and his band? I loved that. 
Maybe you can move that song from the beginning to the end of the set again so that mc can once again co lead sing that song with Shay and his band? Cause I loved my headcanon of that silly cover going viral. 
Also tiny spelling error here:
Your brother makes no move to get up from the coach. Should be couch.