The MC hasn’t changed, it’s just becoming more and more obvious that the stats with which we build our MCs are completely ignored in the romance. Considering this is a romance game, the personalities should really be considered in the interactions with the LIs. They aren’t, though–the MC is forced into being a blushy anime character, no matter their actual stats, forced into feelings they may or may not be experiencing yet, and–worse–it’s completely one-sided and the LIs aren’t shown to have the same over-the-top reactions to the MC.
And that’s the problem with A’s route. There’s no growth and any progress is immediately reset. The character itself isn’t the problem, it’s the fact that the build-up to A and the MC getting together feels forced and stunted because Sera decided to drag it out for six books before allowing them to be together.
I’ve said it before, and the fact remains, that A’s route should have an earlier exit ramp that can be triggered by the MC’s words or actions. As it stands, the entire “romance” is dependent upon A deciding, so the MC is basically a non-entity in it. There should be ways to speed it up, things that would trigger A into ending this seemingly never-ending cycle of push/pull with the MC as a doll that has no actual agency.
Yeah, F is F. I don’t think anything will ever change with them and they won’t “grow” as a person. And it will always be fun and non-angsty (except for their mom).
Well, in b3, N’s prim and proper went out the window. N is a horndog, really. It just didn’t come out until they were in a relationship and sure of the MC’s feelings. With N, there is somewhat of a disconnect in their behavior in b3, IMO. But I think that is Sera’s way of showing that N is better than M in every way, including sex.
Like you said, M is the exception. It may be because Sera was forced to explore M past the crabby exterior and sex-driven attitude. M’s one-note, cartoonish build from b1 just wouldn’t work if it was going to be a romance, so she had to figure out who the hell M is. With the other three, she sees their one-note, cartoonish build as acceptable–F is the bff snarker who is almost always happy and fun, A is the tortured slow-burn (asshole), and N is the soft, sweet, caring one with something dark in their past. So that’s what you get.
These are symptoms of plot bloat and forcing the progress to a snail’s pace in order to fill seven games. She could very easily let the romances progress at a more natural, quicker pace and focus on external forces for the source of drama and tension, but she wants to drag them out as long as possible. And the problems with doing that are getting more blatant with A, N, and F’s routes.
M’s route got obvious progress because we’re beginning to see beneath the surface of M (and that progress will apparently be negated in b4 so it can be dragged out longer). With A, N, and F, what you see is what you get–there’s nothing deeper below the surface, apparently, except for whatever happened in their past.
Wayhaven would’ve benefited from being a five-game series instead of a seven-game series.
Same for the Voice of Silverking WIP.
grown adults acting like children but whatever……
