Meh, I've never suscribed to this way of thinking, everybody likes certain characters due to different reasons and everybody wants the characters they like the most to be more on the spotlight than others, and for me at least, it's not just about looks.
Key example, Lily. At first I really did not care for her at all. She might've been my second favorite of the Pink Rose girls (model wise right after Nicole) but that was about it.
I wasn't interested in her as a possible LI or lewd scenes with her at all since we've already had so many girls.
But then, DPC added the possibilty of having fun with her without it being transactional like other side girls depending on affinity and I thought: "Intersting, maybe he plans something for her" and decided to invest in getting her scenes. Then we've got the whole rolling stuff and the why of her behaviour in EP10 and finally the BIG payoff this episode and now pretty much everybody loves her or at least like her. (Hell some people even now have her as one of their favourites right to the most consistently popular main girl wich is Sage).
It takes time, and several scenes for the player to get invested with girls the story doesn't focus on. Did anybody really care for Sally in the first season at all ? Probably not, but after having so many moments between her and MC and the development of their realtionship this very episode (With Sally complementing him for the first time and them possibly making out) a lot of players who liked her model and/or personality want to interact more with her.
"Cinderella" is the same. She was introduced just as an unkown girl at the start of season 3 and now due to DPC making her care about MC' behaviour at the party and their interactions with each other in the case the MC chooses not to fool around too much at the party she is gradually becoming more interested in the MC and by consequence. The playerbase is getting more intested in her.
This is the inherent problem with AVNs. Just throw a bunch of body types and personalities and someone will like something. Instead of a harem, DPC did a branching path narrative.
The problem is: you can't combine the two. Or, well. It's too big, and not much focus.
Branching narrative allows the player to figure out what they want, and allows the narrative to focus on that path. Like Leap of Faith.
Harem or normal AVNs where the MC does everyone is just appeasing everyone. Like...most AVNs.
With a narrative focused story, you need to keep it clean and intense. The Other's path tries to give you both of this, and causes dev time and content, and paths to get out of hand. Stories need to reflect the protagonist/antagonist dynamic, that is, all other characters should reflect and be permutations of their persona or theme. Contrasts can sometimes work too for rivalry on antagonism. Romance genres need to treat some of these relationships as plots unto themselves, so the relationship is the conflict, or else we just have slice of life.
For example:
MC -- A
bullied, poor, motherless self-taught
martial artist and
guitarist into
engineering with a
dad who loves him. With a best friend
Derek.
Main Path:
Bella
-A gorgeous teacher, neglected wife, with a hole in her heart, and a wild past who gets to live again
-You treat her well, help each other, share shenanigans with
Derek. You're not a creep. Coincidentally, you know her favourite
song. It starts sexual through drunken shenanigans. You do not share her academic or gym interests.
Jill
-A shy, caring,
entitled girl, with a tragic family, pursued by a prick, who had a sister
just like you
-You treat her well, save her several times, she thinks it's destiny, and she shares your
musical skill, but not interests.
Sage
-An outgoing party girl with personal and family problems who needs affection
-You treat her well, help her, teach her your
martial arts and
music, solve her personal problem, and find her a few family
Maya
-A sweet girl who likes you, with family and personal problems. Your best friend's sister.
-You treat her well and deal with her family problems (i.e. her
dad.) Related to
Derek and Josy.
Josy
-A sweet girl who loves you, with personal problems. Shes likes fashion and blogging. She wants to join a
gym with you.
-You treat her well
Zoey
-Your old best friend and tomboy
lover who shared a lot with you, returns after she realizes her
feelings for you
-You can accept or reject her feelings
Others:
Nora
-A gorgeous teacher who wants a family, but isn't going to break the rules. You share her
academic and
gym interests. Found through a dating app.
-You accept her and she breaks it off for professional reasons
Quinn
-An outgoing party girl who grew up
poor, with personal and family problems, who needs help
-You accept her and she confides in you. You try to help her.
Lily
-An outgoing party girl and stripper who was
bullied and chose to change, leaving her family
-You accept her and she confides in you, and help her break out of her self-imposed reality, just a little
Nicole
-An outgoing party girl and stripper who wants a relationship
-You treat her well
Riona
-An outgoing party girl who grew up
poor, with personal and
financial problems. She's unattached, likes drugs, and gaming.
-You help her with her personal and
financial problems
Sally
-A tsundere, ignorant, know-it-all
-You do a science report together (she's not into science, she's just your lab partner)
Many of the Other girls are redundant and empty to even mention, Sally just being the "next up"; even Tara is just a nice and pretty girl, but not much there.
It's already pretty loaded, and pretty thin in terms of what interests
attract and maintain others together.
We'll have to now:
-Give Nicole her time to be fleshed out, like Lily
-Ditto for Nora, since she is the choice between her and Nicole
-Riona desperately needs to be fleshed out
-Sally is just...there
Up in the air if they're now going to give Tara and Tiffani more screen time, or give Felicia, Charlotte, Leanne, Mia, Erin a Side girl status. The intention is to give Cinderella more, since she's been teased, and it just gets bigger and bigger for the sake of Others. Then we have to think of the Rose girls, Heather, Madame content, Zoey catchup content...I'm assuming Melanie and Sarah still...Elena...
Then the narrative has to deal with all the main plot stuff with Quinn, the frats, and all the Others content, which would include
even more Others.
And with adding a supposed new Main Path/Main Girl with Zoey, there's now 8.
- Bella
- Jill
- Sage
- Maya
- Josy
- M&J
- Zoey
- Others
So Others is going to be one big mess of random bodies and personas for the sake of Others, without a consistent theme or persona matching the main characters, to compare or contrast, or get to develop. Zoey does have the potential to develop anywhere, since she has now actualized her feelings and can explore what's next. Quinn's development is main plot stuff, and perhaps your path with her would impact that, so it's basically a 9th MP.
Everyone on Others is either Quinn, or a
Mel and Sarah persona.
