Okay so here is my deal with Nick and Sally:
I personally have nothing against them being together but, to me their personalities seem incompatible. Maybe it’s because they are both positive sunshines or whatever but for most of their scenes I kinda cringe. During the hospital scene, I wanted to let Sally see Nick but she can’t expect to see him before his own sibling sees him (especially because they weren’t in relationship yet).
45 Likes
I love this update! As usual I was cackling madly through my dread and terror.
(this is my first time using the forums, so please forgive any formatting errors - I’m not 100% sure how hiding spoilers works. SPOILERS BELOW. just in case.)
Summary
I’m so glad to have Nick back <3. It’s funny, He actually hasn’t appeared much in-game, but his presence is felt even in his absence. I imagine humorous my Button softly interjecting “ghostbusters!” when appropriate, dancing (badly) in otherwise perfect silence and darkness on their way to the kitchen. Poor John.
Sally’s vision scene was really effective. How weird is it to suddenly be faced with a major, scary part of your BFF’s life like that? And Sally struggling to assure Button that she’s fine?? When she clearly is not??? Very upsetting, thank you. I just want to give her a hug 
All of the visions were upsetting and alarming. Rosy’s in particular was creepy as hell. I thinks it’s not the presence of the body, so much as the extremely matter-of-fact tone. My pet theory is that the “Wiseman” Rosy addresses is actually secretly Uncle Gary. They’re in cahoots, and Button is the mysterious prone figure… being hauled off to some fate unknown…
I am super curious about how Sally’s powers work. She says that her brain needs a day to recharge - does this mean that she can only deliberately trigger a vision once a day and that they’ll still happen at random, or is it that all of her visions need recharge time? Do precogs need training to be able to accurately describe their visions as they happen? Do they just automatically relate what they see? I think it’s been mentioned somewhere that Sally sleep talks predictions, so the second one? ALSO Sally says that “there’s nothing (she) can do to change the future” is she just being pessimistic? because if emotion biases her powers, then surely not all of her predictions are accurate? Or is it that they are accurate, just incredibly misleading and lacking in context? (how meta…) I don’t really expect any answers to these questions lmao, I’m just thinking out loud…
6 Likes
I considered voting “hey” but ended up voting “nay.”
I think, for me, it has nothing to do with Sally being an RO and more to do with Sally being MC’s best friend (or codependent partner, depending on your view of that “friendship”).
Also, I agree with @Kadaku that I don’t feel they’re particularly compatible. Sally gives me… immature vibes. I can’t pinpoint what exactly does it for me, perhaps it’s things like the expecting to see Nick first or the way she was during the class exercise agains Nox & Glitch, but I just feel like she’s childish.
The main thing is that we don’t really see Sally interact with Nick much (or at all?? I think at all???) so to then be expected to support her pursuit of Nick is just… weird since there’s no indication that Nick feels similarly. My MC loves her brother to pieces, and would definitely not help Sally without knowing that Nick wants that (and probably wouldn’t want to help even if she did know because of the awkward position it might put her in). Plus, between the pouting when she can’t see MCs comatose brother first, the wearing Nick’s shirt without asking, and tbh, even the hospital bedside confession, it feels more like Sally has a childish infatuation/obsession than an actual grown ass interest. (Admittedly, MC’s interest in Gray can read somewhat similarly, but I think that’s more because Gray is either dense or pretending to be clueless so the flirtation never gets reciprocated. BUT, my Gray MC likes him because he’s a sweetheart and very obviously cares about her.)
Also agree with @QuixquillianParadise below point about Sally seeming to care more about her feelings for Nick than MC.
71 Likes
The problem for me is that sally almost feels like a little sister to my mc. I don’t see the relationship working at all. Like the older brother and childhood bff -~> sister just feels weird. I wanted to vote nay but than I questioned myself, am I being selfish! Truthfully I can see my mc trying to sabotage Sally and Nicky rather than setting them up. Like as the post aboves noted Sally feels no different than nick other fangirls. No chemistry whatsoever, like doesn’t nick think of her as a child, his sibling bff. Just feels weird.
18 Likes
For one thing, Nick and Sally barely interact unless the MC very specifically wants them to, which means no one can really see how they are together. Consciously or not, this may be to prevent the reader from feeling “forced” to ship it, which is fair, I suppose, but which might be contributing to lack of Snickly fans. That, and the ship name - it reminds me of a whiny mustache-twirling villain draped in black. It also sounds rather similar to “sickly”.
Ship names and non-existent interaction aside, I’m not a fan of what’s currently in the game regarding the ship. Currently Sally comes off as kind of borderline obsessive over Nick, rather than just caring for his wellbeing. She also has kind of a strange attitude of entitlement to him, which comes through especially in the hospital scene and really turned me off from ever shipping them, though I suppose my interest in a Sally-romancing playthrough might be leaking in there. Still, that was the moment where I sort of made up my mind: no, I’m not setting them up, not even on my Gray playthrough.
In addition, the hospital scene also has the effect of unintentionally showing “Sally cares more about Nick/her feelings for him (more the latter in my opinion, tbh) than the MC” because she wants to go in before them, which really does come off quite badly, and makes me, and I’m sure many other who wanted a close friendship/romance with Sally (or close relationship with Nick), resentful of the route
Their personalities don’t seem to work very well together either, in my opinion, as has already been said.
That’s most of it, I think. Though I see now (upon reading it) that many of my points have previously been touched on by the post above me, I hope it’s still helpful anyhow. 
EDIT: Forgot to add that her being a RO makes some difference to me, but I’d feel at least half the things about the pairing I do now even if she weren’t.
52 Likes
Personally, Nick’s my absolute favorite character, so the option to give him some romance in his life makes me pretty happy.
However, I do find that it’s a little bit hard to get invested (at least right now at the beginning). I think for me it’s that we haven’t really seen them interact at length, so I can feel a bit of a disconnect. I think given the time I could see a more genuine connection between them, but as of now it feels… odd?
I really do love both of them, and I think it could be a really interesting pairing. I think the scene at the hospital stood out to me as strange. I agree with @QuixquillianParadise that it did come off as Sally caring more about her own worry and feelings than Button’s. I see why letting Sally in first makes sense flag-wise, but my Button would definitely not have been happy with Sally, even though she understands worrying about Nick.
So overall I like the idea of Snickly, but I’m struggling to feel as involved with it as I’d like to.
18 Likes
I think I just tend not to like “background characters get together if you don’t romance them” plots in games, personally. If I did want to romance Sally, I’d feel like I was getting in the way of her and Nick, the ~true pairing~. Which i know is not what you intend! I think I’d be a little more receptive if Sally weren’t an RO but not overly?
In MB specifically though it’s sort of a weird thing to reconcile between “Nick and Sally are all Button has left” and “if Button doesn’t matchmake for Nick and Sally, they are a bad selfish person.” Maybe that last bit was just the vibe I got the one time I let her go in the room first, and you’ve since edited that? Or I’m just sensitive bc I guess I, personally, have been in enough situations where the two people closest to me start dating and I’m left out in the cold while they’re together and left to pick up the pieces when they break up. And I feel like my poor Button has already been through enough, she doesn’t need all that, especially when she doesn’t have a support network outside of them.
And Sally wanting to see Nick before Button, their own sibling, gets to – I think you phrased it as “permission to be selfish” on tumblr? But to me does note bode well for how much Sally would consider Button’s feelings if she were in a relationship with Nick.
I don’t have anything intelligent to add to what everyone else is saying about not feeling the chemistry between Nick and Sally – both not having seen them interact and them not seeming to have compatible personalities – other than “ditto”.
43 Likes
Firstly I definitely agree with @bric and @Kadaku about their compatibility. Nick is grown person and Sally feels too childish for him. Because of this a lot about their ship feels kinda “forced”.
Secondly, Sally’s crush on him is sometimes creepy. Especially the hospital part, uh. I know it was already explained but I still feel like her actions were very selfish. I don’t want to be mean but she is pretty much nothing to Nick except Button’s best friend so what gives her the right to see him before Button.
Overall I am not a big fan of Snickly. I like Sally and Nick both the way they are but together they just feel wrong.
Edit: Also I forgot to mention that even if Sally wasn’t RO I would still find this ship awkward 
43 Likes
I ended up voting Nay. My MC sorta looks at Sally like a sibling, and even if I didn’t look at it this way, it be kinda weird because she gives me that childish, immature vibe. (also, sally and nick didn’t interact really with each other) Their compatibility clashes.
The part with Sally wearing Nick’s shirt without permission, pouting because she didn’t see Nick first in the hospital sorta made me annoyed at her for these reasons.
I like them just as they are, one being my brother and the other as just a friend.
20 Likes
Btw, found the ask/answer explaining the whole Sally visiting Nick hospital scene. Idk how to do the thing where we link the post, so this is the explanation:
I tweaked the scene after reading your suggestion! Rather than change visitation order, however, I made the security guard a more an obvious threat. There’s an option to go first and intend for Sally to go after, but she’s banished when you exit–it now should be much clearer that this will happen, due to new interaction between Sally and the guard.
Part of my decision is that Button does make a sacrifice by allowing Sally to see Nick first. Because if Sally and Nick are set up, Button will no longer be at the center of the two’s relationship. They’ll have a connection outside Button.
Sally feels selfish for wanting to see Nick–it’s why she doesn’t ask outright. Tell her to go in, however, and you give her permission to be emotionally greedy. To prioritize her feelings over yours, which is (realistically speaking) the only way a romance between Nick and Sally could ever really work. Button can be the impetus for the two’s relationship, but they can’t be its focal point.
By letting Sally go first, Button indicates that they’re able to eventually play second fiddle. You’re metaphorically and literally stepping aside. Because when people in healthy committed relationships make decisions, their first instinct isn’t how it will impact their sibling or best friend (which is currently the state for both Nick and Sally). It’s to discuss plans with their partner.
Not every player may want to change this dynamic for Button, however. Either because sharing is hard, or they dislike Sally and Nick together. Which is fine! It’s an entirely optional subplot, and one which you have to deliberately work at to see.
To be clear, it doesn’t change my view. If anything, it makes my “nay” even stronger, because while I understand Sally and Nick essentially feeling like they need Button’s “permission” to pursue each other, the fact that Sally would choose THIS moment to try to get it solidifies that she’ll become a trash friend if she starts dating Nick, imo, and if that bleeds over to Nick becoming a trash brother, my Button might just become suicidal.
EDIT/s/n: Has anyone done a play through where MC generally reacts poorly to Sally’s existence? I’m curious if it’s possible for MC to NOT be friends with Sally. I know I’ve chosen to punch Sally in the nose before and chose that their relationship seems codependent, but I don’t recall it leading to their relationship not being considered a friendship.
23 Likes
I also think that rather than “asking for permission” the scene kind of comes off as Sally expecting to be let in, in its current form.
34 Likes
People who dislike Sally and Nick pairing will obviously want to voice their whys while people who like this pairing will not say anything especially after seeing the vote results (“ooh I’m on the winning side? That takes care of that”).
I like the pairing it brings more to the story. Their personalities clash and it can feel weird to try to set them up but you’re the one who knows their character. Will they end up together? Or will they see that the whole crush thing was ‘in love with an idea of you’ that they’ll nope away from each other and maybe awkwardly remember it years later (“hey, remember that one time we went on a date?” “No.”)
I would like for the pairing to remain as it is, especially when their whole little side story is already skippable if people prefer not to play matchmaker.
18 Likes
Aw yeahhhh, Nick can watch my attempts at courting Ambrosia ~
14 Likes
I originally answered “hey”, but after thinking it over, I’m more on the side of “nay”. I’m not really against it on principle - I love the potential MC/Gray romance, so that’d be a little hypocritical. It’s more the timing seems really, deeply unfortunate on Sally’s part, and the utter lack of interaction between them before Button has to play translator because Nick’s stuck in their head makes it really hard to go “yeah, sure”. I don’t think Sally being an RO changes things, necessarily, but it certainly does make her trying to see Nick before Button regardless of path a lot worse.
Another part is, while I agree with this in principle, Sally isn’t partners with Nick yet. Judging it off the current demo, we have no reason at that point to believe their relationship is anything more than “my best friend’s brother who I have a crush on” and definitely no implied reciprocation.
And that lack of reciprocation is my big sticking point, really, because it makes Sally come off so badly. Because asking to see Nick’s unconscious body before Button does make Sally come off as obsessive to the point of entirely ignoring her best friend’s feelings. Characters are allowed to be flawed, of course, but it doesn’t encourage me to want to get them together at all.
Which leads to the whole “should Button let Sally in before them?” come off really awkwardly to me, because it seems out of nowhere and it’s borderline implausible for me to imagine a situation where anyone would be comfortable letting their friend (who, again, as far as the reader is currently aware just has an unrequited crush on their brother) see their brother who nearly died. Maybe I’m not being imaginative enough, but it’s really stretching the limits of my suspension of disbelief.
I absolutely agree with this, especially since the top half of options are about letting Sally in. It’s a silly game design thing, I know, but even if it alternated between the “let her in” and “go in first” options, I’d feel a lot less sour towards her in that scene.
I don’t think anyone is calling for it to be removed, just explaining their opinions on Sally/Nick? Because I’d agree, I have zero problem with it remaining in-game, just it really doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest so far.
38 Likes
I also didn’t see the poll as asking whether or not it should be removed. I thought it was more like… just trying to figure out where readers stand on the pairing. If Jo decides to rid of it completely based on the feedback, I get it, but if not, I get that too.
7 Likes
I think @wildelight was considering whether to change how the Nick/Sally romance is written based on feedback, not remove it altogether. And while I’m sure some people would be in favor of that, I believe they’re not in the majority, even among “nays”.
EDIT: We’ll have to agree to disagree, @LastLau. I didn’t pick any of the matchmaking options whatsoever, but I still felt the effects of the pairing because Sally canonically starts the game with feelings for Nick, and how they’re presented can and does influence people who are uninterested in their romantic subplot, at least in my experience.
7 Likes
Sorry, I was meaning that in my opinion the pair can remain as it is. Tweaking it or not will not matter for people that decide to skip their side story altogether.
1 Like
I’m gonna disagree with everyone who commented: I like Sally and Nick together.
We’re just at the beginning of the story, it’s logical there’s not a lot of interactions between the two. But, we know how their relationship is: they tease each other, they flirt by play-arguing and you can really feel the love Sally feels for him in the hospital scene. It was super heart warming. Also it’s a good thing that not only the protagonist has a love interest but also side characters, we don’t see that in lots of games.
19 Likes
In all honesty, I’m with @kadaku, @bric, and similar replies, as in… I don’t see any chemistry between Sally and Nick at all. I haven’t gotten a scene with Sally wearing Nick’s shirt (maybe because my button went first?) and honestly I’m glad because personally I’m not really fond of the pairing itself. I’m clearly biased here because… well, all of the above mentioned, but I do appreciate that players that do enjoy the possibility of romance between these two characters, I have also seen some replies related to this topic in tumblr about how anything between Sally and Nick would have little to no focus on Button, which makes sense, so I do consider for those that want to follow this route for these characters, maybe the scenes that are already available might need to be reviewed, or perhaps provide us with the possibility of seeing Nick nd Sally interacting before this (I know this is too much content to add, but maybe the possibility to include Sally in the initial routes going to the academy so that she and nick can actually interact before everything else happens?)
20 Likes
Also, to answer my own earlier question: I chose basically every negative response I could when interacting with Sally and am still sitting at 77%… so I guess it’s impossible to not be friendly.
9 Likes