@fisheye Thank you for letting me know how you feel about it! That definitely helps how I should go about this project, and also gives me a chance to clarify things like this!
I know we have limited choices right now regarding how to approach ROs but I’ve assumed they’re sufficient enough for now. The four options are as follows:
1-A shy romantic pursuit
2-A bold romantic pursuit
3-A neutral/friendly reaction
4-A negative reaction
I do want to add more options on how the PC can react/what choice they can make, since I aim to prioritize the narrative and your experience of it (personality stats are important too!), but I want to focus more on putting down and settling the plot first!
Also, I have hidden stats at work. Mostly regarding whether the PC is feeling platonic or romantic towards an NPC (and how much), so there is an option to not pursue any of them and there will be more choices to approach whatever kind of relationship the PC wants.
There’s a relationship bar in the stats screen, and while it does contribute to romancing the ROs, it’s more of a gauge regarding how good (or bad) your relationship with the NPC is, which, again, will affect how they perceive you and how they will react to you and your actions in the future, in the narrative side of things and most especially outside of romance. As I’ve said before, character relationships are a huge part of this interactive novel. And while it does give PC a bigger relationship boost to flirt with the ROs compared to choosing the neutral/friendly choice, there will be consequences for it, which may or may not be detrimental to PC’s relationship with the ROs and others.
One more thing, after choosing the flirt options, there are three (or four? five? Depends on if you acknowledge Mr. N or not) fake choices simply meant to add a small boost, but choices nonetheless. Since the PC has already chosen the flirt option, I see no harm in providing another set of choices which still gives a bit of variety. And there’s also the issue regarding PC’s sexuality (ace/demi/allo) and that will definitely come into play, too! So that will affect the preferences and availability of choices.
That being said, I would like to know if showing the hidden stat points would be better or not for this WIP? I can’t guarantee doing so when I finish writing the entire thing (and I’m determined to do so 
) but it might help gain a better understanding of the relationships? It’s mostly just flirt points at this stage, really, plus the Narrator’s relationship and Mom’s.