I adore this game and its various outcomes and epilogues!
Glad to hear you enjoyed FMO! :D
Yes, in Lotár’s case, it costs them a lot to open up, and it’s almost a one-in-a-lifetime offer, so the ‘sprinkle’ of betrayal would be way too much for them to swallow even for the sake of receiving help. In this rare case, hurt and pride (and hurt pride) go first before self-preservation.
That being said, if not for all the variables and if/elses I crammed into this game, in addition to what’s basically 5+2 routes (solos + LTs), I would totally add friendship-only choices as an option, so that’s an oversight on my part, but I fear that adding anything at all at the time I was working on this would be just too much for me to handle. I will make sure to keep that in mind for my future projects, though, and I might add some content like that in the complimentary prequel/sequel DLC I am currently working on. I hope that its addition will answer all the possible questions (including those about Notre) and smooth the rough edges as well as let the readers experience the LIs, other realms, and past events via an outsider's POV with a new demon protagonist.
Ah, it’s hard for me to judge, but from the feedback I’ve gotten, it is 'terribly sad,' especially for some (namely Mirren and Mal). I personally don’t enjoy LTs (too sad for me haha) but I really wanted to try writing that at least once, and I am not sure if I’ll ever do it again. You could try reading up to the point where you have to make the final decision, though! I recommend it if only because the LTs have additional and/or different content and scenes compared to the solos, so it might be worth it just for that.
One more thing, if it’s not too much to ask, please keep the heavy spoilers off the main page either by using multiple paragraphs (enters/spaces) so that the reader has to click ‘read more’ to see them, using the spoiler tag [here’s how to do it on itch] that creates a little arrow for the reader to click on, or simply leaving the comment in the latest devlog. Thank you in advance, and sorry for the bother!