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It depends on how well the other parts of the IF are. If it's a true IF then I won't mind if there is no romance. For example, i won't mind no romance in games like ZESH which has more emphasis on player choice and narrative in its own way. But I would love to have romance in stories which gives more importance to personal story, character growth, bonds between characters and how that bleeds into the main narrative. This isn't to say that games like ZESH don't have the latter, but rather that it isn't as much articulated as in a game like ITFO for example. Although ITFO is good enough without romance, it certainly complements the MC very well. It adds to their growth.
Not the person you asked but yeah, one of my biggest sadness is that If you remove romance from most interactive fiction the whole thing falls apart, few still stand strong without it, from my experience mostly wod ifs, poma, infinity trilogy, a mage reborn and aura clash.
Most IFs are rubbish witihout romance, but if there's one without it, why not? It's probably because my intro to interactive fiction were CYOA books like Lone Wolf and Goosebumps, and earlier CoG titles like SLAMMED! and The Great Tournament, but those barely had any romance, and even if they did it wasn't the main focus. I think it's just that most games now are catering to the dating sim market, which isn't bad, but not everything has to be a dating sim.
Depends on what the story is about. I play POMA with a FeMC, pretty much the same thing. I also quite liked playing Life as a ruler: Nexus Island where the romance is completely optional.
Tbh the great tournament got me crazy into the knight x princess trope back then
surprise, we’ve never seen any of that content, because the story is still stuck in the prologue since the dinosaur era. And yet there’s still new RO content being posted 
Anyway, no comment.Can't say for anyone else atleast me before I completely stopped supporting anyone on patreon due to feeling scammed, I subscribed for the latest wip and some side character content.It always irritates me how some IF authors just pop up out of nowhere, drop a chapter or two, sometimes not even past the prologue, and suddenly boom, there's a Patreon and Ko-fi link. Like??? The story hasn’t even started yet, and people are already subscribing! You haven’t seen anything of the actual plot, so how are you paying for something that barely exists?
If I started listing all the IFs where this happens, we’d be here forever, but I think the crown has to go to The Abyssal. Patreon with “bonus content” … but
Personally I think authors should only launch Patreon/Ko-fi once the IF already has a solid amount of content, like 5 or 6 chapters maybe? Or at least more than just 2 or 3. At that point, sure, I’d consider a Patreon reasonable.
Also, question: when an IF author opens a Patreon, what kind of exclusive content actually makes you want to subscribe (besides early access, obviously)? Side stories? POVs? I know a lot of people thought Rotting-Ink’s Patreon benefits were ridiculous, I did too, and I was honestly surprised people bought into it.
I think the 13leagues Patreon is actually a good example. There’s a decent amount of content, and even though the progress is still kinda slow, it’s way more consistent than most others.
Bride of shadows' author is doing Patreon-exclusive game modes for her story. Sort of like AU versions of the main game, with their own plot and dynamic. This, I think, is neat. CC Hill also has her Patreon-exclusive erotic stories, which I think works out pretty nicely for her? Generally, I think, if an author can provide more of the game without castrating the public version, or to provide different IFs in the same universe, it's a good solid bonus. I'm not that interested in extra POVs (unless it's interactive, like the ones the Infamous' author does) or trivia about the characters as paid content, and lore drops are a hit or miss. For some games lore and side-stories are always welcome and for the others it's whatever. I think lore is all nice and good if either your story is very worldbuilding-packed, or you are far enough in the story to be interested in it. E.g., like you pointed out with the Abyssal, when we haven't seen anything why would we care that much about the lore?
I don't mind Ko-Fi (one-time payment with optional subscription) nearly as much as I mind people opening Patreon's (almost exclusively a subscription service) without a solid plan for the content they want to release and provide. As for what I'd look for in a Patreon - first and foremost consistency is imperative. A creator that isn't consistent with the way they structure their Patreon is one I refuse to support regardless of what they actually say they provide - I am paying for a service a la Netflix and co, so if you don't provide what you wrote on the tin I will consider it a scam, blacklist, and move on to greener pastures.It always irritates me how some IF authors just pop up out of nowhere, drop a chapter or two, sometimes not even past the prologue, and suddenly boom, there's a Patreon and Ko-fi link. Like??? The story hasn’t even started yet, and people are already subscribing! You haven’t seen anything of the actual plot, so how are you paying for something that barely exists?
If I started listing all the IFs where this happens, we’d be here forever, but I think the crown has to go to The Abyssal. Patreon with “bonus content” … but
Personally I think authors should only launch Patreon/Ko-fi once the IF already has a solid amount of content, like 5 or 6 chapters maybe? Or at least more than just 2 or 3. At that point, sure, I’d consider a Patreon reasonable.
Also, question: when an IF author opens a Patreon, what kind of exclusive content actually makes you want to subscribe (besides early access, obviously)? Side stories? POVs? I know a lot of people thought Rotting-Ink’s Patreon benefits were ridiculous, I did too, and I was honestly surprised people bought into it.
I think the 13leagues Patreon is actually a good example. There’s a decent amount of content, and even though the progress is still kinda slow, it’s way more consistent than most others.
This. If you are charging monthly and not delivering monthly, you’re not running a Patreon, you’re running a scam. And worse, you are ruining it for the creators who do take it seriously.
I'm not usually a fan of amnesia in stories either, but in Perfumare, it's partially short-lived, so it didn't bother me much. What I don’t quite understand, though, is why the author decided to turn the visual novel into an interactive fiction. I remember she said the VN was just a glimpse of the IF, but now that I’m playing the IF, it doesn’t feel all that different. Aside from a few new passages and some added choices, nothing really feels new, we’ve only lost the visuals. Maybe because it's been a long time since i played the VN, or because that it is the original experience that it feels better.
This is really disappointing. Both because the friend (I assume you mean the one who had been super nice to us since the start?) always seemed to have feelings for the MC and not Ruben. And Ruben already is a very difficult RO to stomach because he's so needlessly cruel to a heavily abused MC that he is actively using--that there's really no need to bring another messy thing into it, like an established partner/lover. Especially since there was the whole "mates" thing dragons have?
To the pathetic MCs you can add the one from Lost in your eyes. It seems like you can play badass, but then you are forced to grovel and blush in front of the healer. I would understand if it was optional if someone likes that kind of content, but I wanted to beat the **** out of that son of a *****, not cower and apologize!
I can list games that I like almost 10/10 on the fingers of one hand. But reading the same things over and over gets tiring after a while...They had a fling or something in the past and both still have feelings for each other, it's possible to turn it into a poly relationship, but I do not think that one is a good thing, like you said it's already hard stomaching the dude, but whatever, I'm just over her content tbh. She keeps starting stuff over and over and never finish