I was concerned when starting this game with the religious aspect of it, and it ended doing the opposite of what I thought it would. Having Michael and Ariel being so closed-minded was a risky decision but proved to make the narrative feel more authentic. I have met people like Ariel, and Michael. And then there's Ace, whose storyline had some very serious experiences. The scene in the casino had me genuinely scared for Ariel. In choosing the negative choice at the beginning of his final chapter I felt that anxiety, and the bad ending was lingered on for so  long that I started to hurt. The whole time I felt more like an outside observer helping this girl navigate rather than being in her place. The writing flowed so nicely and the characters felt so genuine (maybe other than Keldran, but I imagine he's more authentic with the dlc). I also don'y know if this was intentional but I have always wondered what an asexual character would look like in an otome and I think Michael felt like a nice representation of that. So many emotions, I adored this story.