Hi, I really wanted to ask about what was your intended takeaway for Junoru's route, specifically the romantic end. So basically, what were the readers intended to feel upon finishing the route.
My main point is here, copied and pasted:
"But that was when I finally realized a possibility that I was meant to see things this way. I thought that maybe it was your intention to create so much hypocrisy, selfishness, and unfairness (to other characters). After all, these are very human things, and one of the things this game did best was creating complex human (as a trait) characters. I think you created an incredibly strong route that turns my dislike into a good thing, if it was your intention to reveal the unreliability and complexity that comes with a single perspective. With that in mind I really want to know what your intentions were. Thank you so much if you answer!"
Here I am referring to the human yet not necessarily likeable actions and perspectives Miyoko and Junoru had taken on through the game.
Spoilers below (this isn't necessary to read, just provides my opinion and some context as to why I'm asking):
I'd actually quite disliked the route (I say this, but I've loved the game), because of how it was as though we were forced to agree with Miyoko's usually at least a little ignorant perspective. The readers were given all the facts to develop a clear perspective of the whole situation, and as a whole, there was a lot of complexity, with many morally gray decisions. All the characters were like that. They were all making selfish decisions, which is human, but I felt that Junoru (only later on), and especially Miyoko (all throughout) didn't understand how their decisions were selfish. Miyoko does not really recognize her flaws, so even though they've been shoved in our faces, the way she and the LIs treat her is as though she is good, and also innocent, kind of. And it worked for a lot routes, but heavily backfired for Junoru's.
In Junoru's route, Miyoko gets directly involved with the brothers responsible for numerous of the murders. The moment she started involving herself and started making decisions to protect them, she stopped being an innocent bystander in the situation, because she was helping more deaths occur later down the line. I didn't want Roya or Junoru to die either, but it's true that the deaths in the village would have been stopped sooner if they were killed, and I wish Miyoko had recognized that, and had recognized that helping them live was selfish, and wasn't right to the other villagers, but that she would choose it anyway. But Miyoko never thought that way, and she kept trying to walk the middle path, and I don't think even she fully knew what she was trying to achieve, and nothing about the how.
She made numerous decisions like this. Something in this route I really disliked (dislike doesn't mean I thought it was bad, but I'll get to that later), was how limited Miyoko and Junoru's perspectives were. And I think it fits the title of the achievement "lonely girl meets lonely guy". Neither actively tried to understand other perspectives, and this above all applied to Miyoko. She listened, or was forced into other perspectives, and regardless she accepted them. That was not my issue. My issue was that she never tried to understand someone on her own accord.
She based everything on her emotional perspective, what had happened to her in relation to her, but she rarely thought about it from their perspective. This was most prominent with Kaichi, and seen most clearly with Chain. But Junoru was also at fault with this, regarding Blace. He made assumptions about Blace, and they were quite untrue from my perspective. I felt so bad for Blace by the end, because when he apologized, he took on far more than he was actually responsible for. He'd burdened himself with so much, but he was also at the time a child with no choice. He apologized for so much, but no one contradicted him. Told him that he wasn't at blame for all of that. I can't accept Junoru's forgiveness because it was unfair to Blace. It was treated as something virtuous that he did, but forgiving such an apology to me simply means that neither are at the same level anymore.
I also feel like Miyoko negatively affected Junoru a bit just as she positively affected him. She helped him be happy and find worth in living, but he lost that old pessimistic view on how we was negatively affecting the village in exchange for that. However, it was reality, and even if they were finding drawn out ways to counter it, I wish it could have been recognized. I feel like Miyoko denied all the bad about Junoru, the bad decisions he made by affirming them and turning them into something good in her mind.
I also disliked a lot about how Miyoko always expected something she never gave in return. With Chain, she was forever speaking about how she wished he would have listened to them, and she wondered why things went wrong. She even thought to Blace later on "Blace, don't be like Chain!" I quite disliked it, as it mischaracterizes Chain and was so disrespectful to someone who'd died. She'd also criticized Blace's having a condition to help them. She'd finally been given this route to a middle path, and was clinging to it. However, there are so many issues here. Firstly, she herself had not tried to talk out the options with someone beyond her own need for it, and truth be told, she had nothing good to say. At that point in time especially (I mean with Chain around), there was nothing she could have said to convince Chain, because her perspective was based on her emotions and memories, yet neither deny the deaths that Roya and Junoru were associated with. Chain is extreme, but he genuinely cares for the village and tries to protect innocent people. This was something I felt she could have determined on her own, yet Chain in this route was characterized to be heartless and crazy, fitting only her experiences.
However above all I felt that Miyoko, Junoru, and Roya, were shown in an overly positive light. They'd done so many morally grey or even morally bad things, but in the route by the end, it was being overshadowed by the good parts of them. However that doesn't erase murder, and I disliked that it was like we were supposed to see them as good people, undermining all the moral complexity built up till then.
But that was when I finally realized a possibility that I was meant to see things this way. I thought that maybe it was your intention to create so much hypocrisy, selfishness, and unfairness (to other characters). After all, these are very human things, and one of the things this game did best was creating complex human (as a trait) characters. I think you created an incredibly strong route that turns my dislike into a good thing, if it was your intention to reveal the unreliability and complexity that comes with a single perspective. With that in mind I really want to know what your intentions were. Thank you so much if you answer!
Since I'm here I just want to give a few pros and cons.
Pros: We were able to at least glimpse some level of complexity in each character, and every character was well developed. I really liked how you created characters and incorporated them in the routes. I also love how character-driven the text was. The mysteries were not that complex. I guessed a few, but multiple were so simple, with so many hints, and yet I got on a completely different path, which I loved figuring out. Each route was very different. Sachiro's route made me feel scared numerous times, and I don't like scary stuff, yet it was a nice change. I loved the balance between plot and romance. And the side characters were so well fleshed out. I loved Kaichi in the game so so so much. And I loved Jace and Chain so much too. Among the LIs I loved Kurato a lot, and then Sachiro. I loved how the introductions were done, and Miyoko rarely stayed in the same spot, which I quite enjoyed. And the CGs were so nice. I had fun finding them,
Cons: So, I won't go into much detail, but I feel that despite being called a small town, the way it's been described it feels much larger. The size of the school, the lack of familiarity Miyoko has with the town and its citizens, all sorts of things honestly. So my biggest issue with the game was the lack of punishment for Miyoko's dumb decisions. She was not the smartest protagonist, and walked into many dangerous situations, yet they were always rewarded by getting another romantic moment with the LI, or learning something new. Never once did she learn how dangerous her choices truly were, and how easily they could backfire. The deaths also came from more spontaneous choices, rather than because of her decision-making skills.
But all in all I loved the game a lot. I don't know if you read this far or any of it at all, but thank you for creating such a nice game. I haven't tried the DLC yet, but I can't wait to give it a shot!