My thoughts to the Devs on this Romance Vote

[wordbonder]

Please endure my wall of text, I've just had this on my mind since the Kickstarter began...

I understand that Pathea has only a certain amount of time/money for development, but I would really advocate for ALL the characters to be given at least a reasonable amount of content. It's fine if some have more, but I feel the others shouldn't be left in a Venti situation. (Maybe they are already planning to do this, it's unclear at the moment how much content the non-cores will have, based on what they've said. Though likening it to Paulie's content wasn't very encouraging...)

There may be clear favorites in the community, but I'd wager there will still be lots of players who want to romance someone other than whoever the cores end up being. I think in the interest of the game being as well-received as possible all of the characters should at least have enough content to make the relationship feel meaningful to pursue.

In my opinion, this is too big a part of the gameplay experience not to spend whatever time and resources are needed for it. (I'd even be willing to buy DLC if I had to.) Tastes vary and considering the non-cores are still marriage options it seems strange for them to be so barebones they end up like the Hulu brothers... (No offense to them, by the way.)

There's going to be players, even new players, that had no clue about this vote or Kickstarter until it's long over. They're going to buy the game expecting a finished experience, but if they happen to choose one of the non-cores and get met with a Venti situation they are likely going to leave with a bad taste in their mouth.

Take my example, I've been a die-hard My Time fan since Portia. When I started playing I had no clue about certain characters having more content than others, I just played naturally. I ended up picking Mint and was happy that he had a pretty nice story. On a later playthrough with a different character, I chose to go for Sam, another one of my favorite Portia characters, only to find out that she had 1 romance-related mission. I never finished that playthrough...

The moral of the story is, yeah the popular choice needs to be given a lot of the Devs attention, that just makes good business sense. But the other options are still part of the game, and if they are snubbed completely, they could leave a lot of people with a sour taste in their mouths.

A point to remember is the majority of the player base doesn't bother to post their opinions on forums. They just play the game, but if they feel it was underwhelming or unfinished due to half-baked characters, they might not be back to spend their money on the next one.

Anyway, I love Pathea and the My Time series, but I personally think this vote would be a misstep if it means the other characters are going to be left out in the cold. Just my thoughts...

[Lord_Reavous]

I think they said that non-Core is akin to Pauline from Portia versus Ginger. It's a vague but analogous comparison they've mentioned.

I find myself always in the minority it seems. I like plain brown-eyed brunettes. And Hua doesn't seem to be even middling in the fan vote held on Reddit. But then again, I'm not big into the romance scene like others, nor do I care for the artstyle change. So IDK how much I care at this point.

[wordbonder]

Originally posted by Lord_Reavous:

I think they said that non-Core is akin to Pauline from Portia versus Ginger. It's a vague but analogous comparison they've mentioned.

I find myself always in the minority it seems. I like plain brown-eyed brunettes. And Hua doesn't seem to be even middling in the fan vote held on Reddit. But then again, I'm not big into the romance scene like others, nor do I care for the artstyle change. So IDK how much I care at this point.

Yeah I don't think my faves are very popular at the moment either. I like a certain romance element, but really I'd just like them to get a fair amount of character development in general. I guess time will tell how it turns out...

[Raven]

Where are people voting at? I would love to peek at who is winning!

[wordbonder]

Originally posted by Raven:

Where are people voting at? I would love to peek at who is winning!

The official vote is going to happen at the end of the Kickstarter. But some fans did put together some polls on Reddit that give an idea of the general direction the community is leaning.

[Retro]

i back this game on kickstarter and i assure you i will miss every single vote that ever happens, i don't like that voting system really. also they should have voting here.

[Lord_Reavous]

I do want to clarify that the vote numbers weren't large. So I don't know how indicative it is of actual Backer sentiment.

[wordbonder]

Originally posted by Lord_Reavous:

I do want to clarify that the vote numbers weren't large. So I don't know how indicative it is of actual Backer sentiment.

Yeah, I'm wondering about this too. Sure the people on fourms/reddit have clear favorites, but there are a lot more backers that don't post. So I guess it might still be anyone's game in the end...

[House Gnome]

Originally posted by Lord_Reavous:

I do want to clarify that the vote numbers weren't large. So I don't know how indicative it is of actual Backer sentiment.

Likely not very. Lots of reddit lurkers (ie. me) who won't participate in polls or don't even have accounts. Plus, if you looked at the MTaS reddit threads you'd be hard pressed to believe anyone outside of Logan/Fang existed (and I say this as someone on the Logan train, toot toot).

[Lord_Reavous]

Originally posted by House Gnome:

Likely not very. Lots of reddit lurkers (ie. me) who won't participate in polls or don't even have accounts. Plus, if you looked at the MTaS reddit threads you'd be hard pressed to believe anyone outside of Logan/Fang existed (and I say this as someone on the Logan train, toot toot).

Yeah I always wondered why Owen wasn't considered a more attractive bachelor. He's a storyteller, business owner, more mature. Lots of women should be attracted to him in my estimation, but it's either the Bad Boy, Rogue: Logan, or the mysterious, silent: Fang. And I get the allure of those tropes, but they're so much more "desired" than Owen.

I'm perplexed by it I guess. I guess that's why romance is just not my thing, I don't understand it enough.

[House Gnome]

Originally posted by Lord_Reavous:

Yeah I always wondered why Owen wasn't considered a more attractive bachelor. He's a storyteller, business owner, more mature. Lots of women should be attracted to him in my estimation, but it's either the Bad Boy, Rogue: Logan, or the mysterious, silent: Fang. And I get the allure of those tropes, but they're so much more "desired" than Owen.

I'm perplexed by it I guess. I guess that's why romance is just not my thing, I don't understand it enough.

Well, for me personally, I like the quiet guy with a kind heart, so I started with Fang then switched to Logan as he was a better fit for me. I do NOT like the overly dramatic type and Owens reverse confession was so freaking cringe/off-putting to me that it immediately knocked him out of the running. Honestly, I think the public proposal from him turned a lot of people off, it's a really polarizing thing. People either love or hate that kind of thing.

[Lord_Reavous]

Well I don't romance the men, so I had no idea what his confession played out like.

Fair enough.

[Zeesha]

I'm not on discord, that's where they are doing it yes? So I'll never get a vote in either. Don't do disco.

House-gnome, who is Reddit leaning to? I'm not over there either. :D

[404]

Originally posted by Zeesha:

I'm not on discord, that's where they are doing it yes? So I'll never get a vote in either. Don't do disco.

The vote is for Kickstarter backers, not all of whom participate on Discord. Pathea knows that. The vote won't be held there. Ensure the email address associated with your Kickstarter account is up-to-date.

[Lord_Reavous]

The vote also only happens at the end of the Kickstarter--October 24th. Probably a few days later. I'm guessing an email notification will go out and Backers will then vote.

[House Gnome]

Originally posted by Zeesha:

House-gnome, who is Reddit leaning to? I'm not over there either. :D

I haven't paid a lot of attention to the reddit on evershine as it's a lot of repeat posting of the kickstarter stuff. Best I can remember there is a lot of Stev and Atticus love and some moaning about the changes to Kang from what was in Project ME.