The VN isn't dead, its just on Hiatus, the Author has stated numerous times recently that he's still working on it.
(not confirmed in anyway, but just my opinion, it is likely that Cockhole is trying to finish the VN rather than simply releasing little updates every now and then, meaning that once it is done we'll get the whole VN in one go. At least that's what I think.)
Not yet. From what I understand It is expected that Zach, Chris, and Russel will have routes implemented once the main 3's routes are either finished or completed to a degree that the team will feel comfortable adding more routes to the VN.
However, the team has added options so that implementing their routes will be easier once they're ready to do so.
Edit: Just found out that while the Chris and Russel routes have had their Patreon goals reached, Zach hasn't yet. It is likely that it will in the future though, but we'll just need to see.
A couple of things:
1. The VN isn't complete yet, and there is currently no knowledge on how to get the 'best' ending for Shoichi.
2. How do you know that the current path you have is the worst one? It very well could be the best one, we have no information to confirm or deny this.
3. Minor spoilers, path A is the path where you need to select specific options in order to get Shoichi to see his mom. Path B is where you let go of telling Shoichi to see his mom and playing volleyball. In path C you don't let go and keep pushing, which causes Shoichi to become incredibly angry and causes a huge fight.
Here is where you can find it. https://www.furaffinity.net/view/26153752/
I only recently discovered Morenatsu as I've just gotten into the whole 'gay furry VN' scene. I've played through the original as well as your Revisted project . The multiple events in a single day idea is a huge step up from the original which forced you to focus all your time onto a single character for no real reason. I also appreciate that the story isn't just a copy and paste of Revisited, its actually different and the characters feel slightly different as well.
As far as the art is concerned, I don't find the change in the art style to be either a positive or a negative, I think that it is more important that the art looks good and accomplishes the goals of what the style was going for. In this sense I think that the 'realistic' redesign was achieved. I am looking forward to the changing emotions for the sprites as I think that it will add alot to the flow of the conversions in the game. I also REALLY appreciate the Shun redesign, that you for removing the whole pedobait aspect from the game.
I can understand that the change of Hiroyuki from being the 'player' to being a character is controversial, but I think that it does offer an opportunity to add depth to the relationship between Hiroyuki and his husbando of choice, rather than in the OG where the other characters seem to be in love either because they loved him from childhood (Tora and Shin) or they just seem to fall in love for no real reason. As long as the team is fully committed to the idea of Hiro as being another character in the Morenatsu universe and not just a stand in for the player then I think that this could be a positive. So far I have seen that the team has in fact wrote somewhat more of a backstory for Hiro and has explained more of his seemingly illogical actions i.e. 'why didn't he call his friends sooner?'.
My favorite character in both the OG and in Revisited was Shin-kun. I thought that his route was by far the most well written and was fairly grounded compared to some of the other routes. I also liked that Shin was a character that ultimately made sense, his actions and thoughts are more grounded and sane compared to some of the other characters. Plus he really is the only character that had 'real' problems compared to the others (Konousuke doesn't have problems, Kouya is a dumb and created his own problems for no real reason ect). My favorite event is a toss up between the beach (looking forward to how it goes in homecoming) and the goodbye kiss that Shin gives at the end of his route (I think it perfectly encapsulates that he has grown as a character thanks to your actions of just being there for him when he needed a friend as well as his love for you).
