Hi !
So, I've played and enjoyed your game, completed Dallas, Emmitt Beau & Wizz paths and I thought I could give you some feedbacks. I got one or two questions, too, I'll go into that after giving you my thoughts.
First, english isn't my native language so I hope I'm not too awful to read ! Sorry if I am, trying to improve.
My first path was Dallas, and boy I think I kinda ruined the rest of the game for myself. I tend to choose the path I think I'll like less first, and I thought I had done just that by throwing myself at him (I was head over heels for Emmitt in like 2 seconds) buuuuuuuut. Wrong. I absolutely loved him. Every. Single. Scene. Well, I grew kinda frustrated more than once waiting for Robin and him to acknowledge their feelings and move on from their past, but it was filled with so many feels and so much angst, I almost cried. Yeah, I'm soft like that. The flashbacks were perfect, especially for a first playthrough, they gave me knowledge not only of their relationship but of Shocker Millenium and the members' dynamic too (and Sterling, who was just the worst - how could Robin even fall in love with him in the first place?). The tension, the fights, it broke my heart countless time. And when I thought everything was going to be okay, Dallas left. Granted, Robin went with him but it didn't last - that epilogue in Open-Mode was also perfect, meaning I just wanted to scream to Robin to kidnap him back in the city. You're a musician, Dallas, what are you doing ?! Well, okay, he was helping his family, but still. Whyyyyy ?!
On a side note, I didn't get two scenes from Dallas : By the Pier and The Dark. I don't know why, since The Dark is supposed to be automatic (a bug ? Did I do something wrong ?). I read it in the Memorabilia afterwards (I was on Beau's route at this point) and YEAH it broke my heart AGAIN. So now I kinda want to redo his entire path, but I still got Collin, Faust and Xander. Probably will end up doing them, then Dallas again. I honestly can't really see Robin with anybody else, like they're soulmates or something. Others paths can be fun or interesting, but I find myself having a hard time saying "no" when he offers her a ride after the auditions.
I did it, tho. I was hard and I was apologizing so much in my head ("I will be back Dallas, don't look at me like that :(") but I went for Beau right after finishing my first playthrough. It was 2 AM at this point and I have to say I didn't think I'd like this game so much. That's already two things I was wrong about, so, not trusting my instinct again. Beau was great. If I'd done his path before Dallas, I would probably have enjoyed it more, though. I didn't feel like they were meant to be. They were probably not. You made 3 very different romances, and I thank/congratulate you for that. I liked their dynamic buuuut it was not as gut wrenching as Dallas and Robin, so I was a bit disappointed. I didn't feel like Beau really loved Robin. Not as much as Dallas or Emmitt, anyway. The epilogue didn't help, to be honest. I think if I had to go on Open Mode with Robin breaking up with someone from Story Mode for someone else, it would be Beau - mind you, I haven't seen their beakup scene yet so maybe I'll change my mind (I've seen the one for Dallas... Not gonna say anything about it, it never happened).
Next one was Emmitt, the one that stole my heart in the very first seconds of this game. I absolutely love him too, and I love his relationship with Robin. But - yeah, there's a but again - I didn't feel like Robin shared my love of him. I often felt like she was using him or just didn't care about him enough. That's the opposite situation, really: in Beau's route I felt like he didn't care. In Emmitt's, it was Robin who never really loved him in my eyes. It was very realistic and interesting, though, I'm not complaining. She saw him as a kid, liked him but not in that way, and you portrayed that very well! I liked how her feelings grew as time went by but mine were changing too: the more I was playing, the more I thought they had a great relationship as best friends and nothing more. I was sad for Emmitt but I didn't want Robin to like him that way anymore, which is sad since I was really looking forward this the most. I don't mean to say I was disappointed, I think the story you told about them was perfect in its own way, it's just not the one I had in mind. Out of the three endings, I liked his the most. His reason for leaving wasn't enough in my eyes (why would he leave Robin after everything he went through with her, after gaining self esteem and confidence, after proving to his family that he was just as much capable?) but his return in the Open-Mode was utter perfection. I think being a roadie suits him very well, and I was happy to see him all grown-up and happy. I have to admit I didn't really like his new looks at first (like Robin), but I quickly changed my mind.
So, as I guess you figured by now, I loved the three routes for everything they brought. I really liked the fact that you were telling an entirely different story each time (well, I felt like it was, sorry if it wasn't your intention) through 3 different boys. None of the relationships were the same, and if I think Dallas is the guy for Robin I really enjoyed Beau and Emmitt too.
I want to shout my love to Robin too. I just love her - and using the word "love" too much in this kind-of-review, but oh well, it's your fault. We often see in VN a blank protagonist, not doing much, no thinking much. Robin is not at all like that. She felt very real to me, probably because I'm much like her in a lot of ways. I love that she's far from perfect, I love seeing her fuck up things, I love feeling the same fears that she's feeling, I really absolutely love everything about her. That's something I gotta hand to you for all of your charachters, tho : they all felt like they could be someone I meet for real tomorrow. Sure, there was some cliché along the way (Dallas and his "nice guy" vibe which I didn't like at first, Beau the "rich guy who's not that shallow" by instance) but you managed to add some depth to all of them. I was really impressed!
Nooooow to Open-Mode. I only did Wizz for now, and I didn't do the "guy-I-like-less-first" approach this time (seeing I went totally wrong with Dallas). I adored him in Story-Mode and that didn't change in Open-Mode. I began Open-Mode with Robin single, though, because even if I personally think that her relationship with Emmitt or Beau isn't "the true one", I couldn't do that to them. Well, not to Emmitt anyway. And of course, not to Dallas. So yeah, single Robin went for Wizz. I think he's my second favourite. The sarcasm, the sexual tension, Estelle!, the tabletop game, the scene with porn. I laughed multiple times and really really reaaaally enjoyed his route.
As I said above, I still got Faust, Collin and Xander to go through (waiting for Seth, which I liked more than Beau in his route... shame on me, I know). I bought the Premium Code as soon as I finished Dallas. I'm sorry I couldn't give you more, because I honestly think this game deserve more. I can't wait to play the rest of it, and to replay it later on.
Now, to my question (I thought I had more but I can't think of any now that I'm supposed to ask) : I can't for the life of me figure out how to get an Award for anything other than an album. My singles don't even appear in the Top 5 Chart. Like, never. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong, 5 stars songs, a lot of advertising... Is there something I'm missing ? On this subject, is there a list of Awards we can get somewhere ? I got the Female Best Performance (I think it's this one ? For Robin) and the ones for Beau, Emmitt and Dallas, I got the album one but that's it. I want to try to get them all. I'm missing so many achievements, too, I'm a bit upset about it honestly haha.
I didn't run into major issues with the game, no crash or bug. I had "an error occured" a couple of times in the beginning of Story Mode (I thought I took a screenshot, I'm sorry... I'll do it next playthrough) but I could always Ignore it and it didn't seem to cause an issue later one since I was able to finish.
I think that's all, I'm sorry this got pretty long. I'm excited to see the rest of the members in Open-Mode aaaand the rest of the epilogues, too. Wish you all the best, thanks for this amazing game.