Stories that left you disappointed for a reason

[Glitch]

I pretty much agree with everything you said, you do be be spitting facts fr and I don't have much more to add

I like how this thread turned into a space to vent. I haven’t touched Superstition since high school. I remember looking forward to Tuesdays for the episodic updates, but I dropped off around Season 2. I just couldn’t get into Chris's romance—he always felt so immature. He'd get possessive if you hooked up with someone else (even when you're not together or even heading that way), but then turn around and do the same thing himself and act like you should just deal with it.
Rahim always rubbed me the wrong way—arrogant uptight, and constantly pushing Roe away. But weirdly, I remember the author saying that if you don’t romance them, you can push Rahim and Chris into a relationship with each other? Like, are we talking about the same stuck-up Rahim and gay-panic Chris? Then there’s Zilah. I think he wasn’t even corporeal—just a voice in your head? Naggy as hell, sure, but at least he was consistently there for Roe in his own way. Sometimes he was funny, sometimes flirty, and he genuinely seemed into the MC, which gave him some points.

Spoiler: WWC

Now, about Lorcan—I won’t let you slander him like that! But seriously, I used to feel the same way until I found out Crowny outed his mom’s affair. I mean, that led to her death and his dad’s imprisonment—of course he'd be furious. Still, he can’t blame it all on them, especially since his dad was abusive. But you can’t reason with a kid processing trauma like that. I originally planned to romance Imre since he seemed into the MC, even though Nia warned us his attention might not be a good thing. I chose to ignore it, but after the latest update, I lost all interest in him—yeah, she was right. Lorcan, on the other hand, really grew on me. If you’re kind to him, he becomes this mushy tsundere mess.

As for The Night Market, I don’t remember Milo ever explicitly saying he was polyamorous or that he wouldn’t romance the MC unless they also romanced Mal. I just recall him mentioning Mal as his ex and alluding to their falling outs. Maybe I missed something since I haven’t replayed it after its full release—I only found out about the poly aspect through comments on Itch.
In Book 1, I actually liked Mal because he was the only one who genuinely asked the MC what they wanted to do, stood up for them, and consistently took their side. And after Milo betrayed us, I figured—why not go for Mal instead? When I later found out they basically come as a package deal, it didn’t bother me much since I was already considering romancing one of them anyway.
That said, romancing only one of them while they’re still in a relationship with each other feels awkward. And not being upfront from the start that they come as a duo? Yeah… that’s a problem. Honestly, it feels like it wasn’t planned from the beginning and the author decided to go that route while wrapping up Book 1.

Spoiler: Poly

Personally, I’m not a big fan of poly relationships when the two ROs already have a shared past. It tends to make the MC feel like a third wheel—especially when they start reminiscing about things the MC wasn’t there for or sharing inside jokes. But I decided to give it a try, because in Book 2, their relationship clearly still has unresolved issues, and both of them seem to care about the Night Market and you have got Mal to back you up when facing Milo again.
Milo is clearly still angsty over what he did to NM, and Mal—if I’m remembering right—had a crush on NM back when he was still a gatekeeper. So now you’ve got two fools who were in love, had a messy fallout, and fell for the same person. They get jealous of each other (especially Milo, when NM shows interest in Mal), and it’s a whole thing. But yeah, if you're planning to romance just one of them, there's a good chance the NM will end up feeling sidelined and forced to play couple therapist between their boyfriend and boyfriend's boyfriend.

 

[eightiesboi]

I am, but I have two main gripes with it. I wish you could take the villain route while still romancing one of the main love interests. The drama would be so much more interesting. I also wish the villain romance had started earlier. Honestly, I think the plot in Wayhaven could be tighter. Seven books feels excessive, but that’s just my opinion.

I doubt Mishka would ever make that many branching; will you reconcile with your LI after the betrayal? Will they betray UB just to be on the same side as you? And so on. And definitely would take more time to finish writing. As for the villain romance, I honestly didn't expect we would get a new LI. I would rather have Mishka make A dateable faster than having a villain that you can only romance in one book and doesn't even have a happy ending. But I guess it's her guilty pleasure to make A romancers miserable.

Who's new villain LI? I haven't followed this series in ages, but you've got me interested xd

Can agree with the Manerkol 2.0 comment. A very old being that is summoned(?) thanks to MC, immediately gets attracted to MC because of their "power" and so far giving off "I'll make you fall for me we're fated to be together we'll be power couple just you wait my soulmate (I don't remember the term lol)" vibe for me.

I'm afraid Li'Sar (?) will basically be Manerkol 2.0, what with the soulbond and villain romance and everything. Aka an interesting premise mostly wasted on angst and endless pining, and no real "villain route" (as in the story still follows the same main plot).
Goddamn otome games had it figured out by giving their villains their own story routes.

Lmao no wonder I felt dejavu reading the demo, it's because Li-Sar is just gender-selectable Manerkol, lol. And yeah I can totally see the supposed "angst" and pining because they're on the different side. Dammit Mishka just give us the whole A romance package already who cares about some old being that only shows up in one book?!

 

[Parallax]

I doubt Mishka would ever make that many branching; will you reconcile with your LI after the betrayal? Will they betray UB just to be on the same side as you? And so on. And definitely would take more time to finish writing. As for the villain romance, I honestly didn't expect we would get a new LI. I would rather have Mishka make A dateable faster than having a villain that you can only romance in one book and doesn't even have a happy ending. But I guess it's her guilty pleasure to make A romancers miserable.


Can agree with the Manerkol 2.0 comment. A very old being that is summoned(?) thanks to MC, immediately gets attracted to MC because of their "power" and so far giving off "I'll make you fall for me we're fated to be together we'll be power couple just you wait my soulmate (I don't remember the term lol)" vibe for me.


Lmao no wonder I felt dejavu reading the demo, it's because Li-Sar is just gender-selectable Manerkol, lol. And yeah I can totally see the supposed "angst" and pining because they're on the different side. Dammit Mishka just give us the whole A romance package already who cares about some old being that only shows up in one book?!

This definitely sounds disappointing. I would go back to playing if there was a way to romance someone else for the rest of the story and maybe even switch sides to get away from those stupid vampires.

 

[Gone_Dead]

Reblog by @coeluvr · 1 image

💬 0 🔁 12 ❤️ 150 · Painting of Emperor Luceris and the royal consort I read Electra, she just like Crown of ashes and flames MC fr. Also something about an MC that resembles the killer of her fam…

www.tumblr.com

I just came across this.. and idk what to say. The more i see that blog, the more it infuriates me. Romance asks would be the last in my mind with a story premise like this. I'd expect asks to be in the variety of how MC could torture and destroy the King and his allies but no. It seems i overestimate people.

 

[Fuffff]

Reblog by @coeluvr · 1 image

💬 0 🔁 12 ❤️ 150 · Painting of Emperor Luceris and the royal consort I read Electra, she just like Crown of ashes and flames MC fr. Also something about an MC that resembles the killer of her fam…

www.tumblr.com

I just came across this.. and idk what to say. The more i see that blog, the more it infuriates me. Romance asks would be the last in my mind with a story premise like this. I'd expect asks to be in the variety of how MC could torture and destroy the King and his allies but no. It seems i overestimate people.

I've read the premise of that game and LOL, I can't understand why someone would want to play it. Some people just like drama at superhuman levels (mostly women, from what I've seen) so these asks are made by the same people who don't care about logic and only want angst in their stories. The more, the merrier

 

[Parallax]

people who don't care about logic and only want angst in their stories. The more, the merrier

Angst and ***

 

[Sokrates]

I don't mind cheating or assholish ROs as long as:
1. They receive consequences.
2. The author doesn't shove them in your face all the time.

A terrible example is that ex of yours (Seven I think was their name) in that music reality show game. They're assholes who hate you for no reason, no matter what option you pick. even if you didn't vote them out of the band. Of course, the game keeps shoving this character in your face constantly.

From the games that I remember there are very few ROs who can cheat on you, all I remember is that princess from War of the West and your childhood friend in When Life Gives You Lemons (you can choose whether or not she cheated on you during a high school party). And of course Can't Stop Your Love From Dying. This WiP was probably made by a fangirl who in a hypothetical scenario wouldn’t mind being cheated on by her popular musician husband because, "uhh, it’s the industry’s culture," and "he’s famous, so he can’t settle down."

Characters that hate you for literally no reason **** me off so ****ing much. Examples: Morgan from Wayhaven book 1, that character (forgot the name) from A Mage Reborn: Book Two, Blane from When Twilight Strikes, etc. (When Twilight Strikes infuriates me for a lot of other reasons) Safe to say I don’t like assholish ROs at all, not even those "red flag" characters. The closest RO I like that could be considered a red flag is Junko from SOH and your ex-lover in that John Wick-like IF. I don’t know, they just **** me off. Unfortunately, few games let you kill annoying ROs, so you’re stuck with those assholish characters forever.

Also not a fan when a game makes the MC suffer but doesn’t let us take revenge for it. I remember there was a game set in ancient Rome where a Roman general killed your family, but you didn’t get the chance to kill him. You could even romance him??? I don’t know if the MC ever gets to kill him since I didn’t keep up with the updates after that point.

I'Ve never picked that route, but does the cuckold route get triggered when the MC asks her to cheat on them or something

 

[Fuffff]

I'Ve never picked that route, but does the cuckold route get triggered when the MC asks her to cheat on them or something

When you meet your childhood friend (who you can choose to be your ex-girlfriend), you can also choose the reason you broke up with her, one option is that you were double cucked.

 

[kecap asin]

Does anyone else ever feel annoyed when a story keeps introducing a new character or NPC in almost every chapter?
I recently read Love After Death. At first, I was interested in the premise—like, oh, a story about overcoming grief after losing a loved one, etc., etc.
But then most of the conflict isn’t even about that. It comes from all these other characters who keep getting introduced for seemingly no reason.
Like, the first conflict is with your dead lover’s mother. That one I kind of get—she's controlling and wants the house your dead lover apparently always paid for. But then that conflict becomes meaningless because, conveniently, the house was actually a gift from your parental figure all along.
Then there’s a new conflict involving the MC’s sibling, who gets introduced in a later chapter. Suddenly, there’s a whole new problem with the MC’s abusive family, drama with the dad, and a bunch of other siblings.
My main point is: I don’t know what the focus of the story really is. There are too many new characters bringing their own problems, which ends up overshadowing the original story about the MC and their dead lover.

 

[Sokrates]

View attachment 22755

When you meet your childhood friend (who you can choose to be your ex-girlfriend), you can also choose the reason you broke up with her, one option is that you were double cucked.

Lol. I meant the War for the west chick

 

[Fuffff]

Lol. I meant the War for the west chick

I think the chick from War of the West is named Herya, if you neglect her and act like an ******* she'll cheat on you (with your guards if I remember correctly) and leave.

 

[Fuffff]

Does anyone else ever feel annoyed when a story keeps introducing a new character or NPC in almost every chapter?
I recently read Love After Death. At first, I was interested in the premise—like, oh, a story about overcoming grief after losing a loved one, etc., etc.
But then most of the conflict isn’t even about that. It comes from all these other characters who keep getting introduced for seemingly no reason.
Like, the first conflict is with your dead lover’s mother. That one I kind of get—she's controlling and wants the house your dead lover apparently always paid for. But then that conflict becomes meaningless because, conveniently, the house was actually a gift from your parental figure all along.
Then there’s a new conflict involving the MC’s sibling, who gets introduced in a later chapter. Suddenly, there’s a whole new problem with the MC’s abusive family, drama with the dad, and a bunch of other siblings.
My main point is: I don’t know what the focus of the story really is. There are too many new characters bringing their own problems, which ends up overshadowing the original story about the MC and their dead lover.

The major problem with these characters introduced in the middle of the story is that they barely get any development and join the cast without any good reason provided by the writer. Some writers really do be fleshing out their characters, and before fully developing them, they just introduce a whole new NPC and forget about the older ones.

Magium (RIP to the writer) did a good job with this, characters who were introduced were well-written and had meaningful connections to existing ones, like Daren's knight mentor and Barry's aunt in the latest chapters.

 

[Kokyn]

I'm a new reader and only started getting into HG/CoG a few months ago. I was looking for some Wips to dive into and came across "A Tale of Heroes" the synopsis sounded interesting, the ros looked promising, so I thought “why not? let’s go on an adventure”

biggest regret of my CoG journey so far...

first of all, the Mc isn't really a main character. no, scratch that calling them a side character would be too generous. they're basically a glorified NPC. and not even a helpful one. I mean in most IFs or CoGs, side characters at least do something. but our Mc? nope.
the real protagonist of this story is none other than the brilliant, wonderful, ever-so-shiny: The Seeker! let’s give it up for, folks.

and to make things even worse, I decided to romance Ignis she was the ro that stood out to me the most. turns out, she’s not really a ro... she's more like the Seeker’s wife. I thought I had made a mistake or missed some choice that would unlock her route. spoiler: nope, you just get replaced by the seeker no matter what you do.

the whole thing was so frustrating and miserable, I honestly wish the adventure had just shipwrecked in the prologue.

(english isn’t my first language, so sorry in advance for any mistakes)

 

[Zeus]

Bro got blindsided by the cucking

 

[purplemirror]

I like how this thread turned into a space to vent. I haven’t touched Superstition since high school. I remember looking forward to Tuesdays for the episodic updates, but I dropped off around Season 2. I just couldn’t get into Chris's romance—he always felt so immature. He'd get possessive if you hooked up with someone else (even when you're not together or even heading that way), but then turn around and do the same thing himself and act like you should just deal with it.
Rahim always rubbed me the wrong way—arrogant uptight, and constantly pushing Roe away. But weirdly, I remember the author saying that if you don’t romance them, you can push Rahim and Chris into a relationship with each other? Like, are we talking about the same stuck-up Rahim and gay-panic Chris? Then there’s Zilah. I think he wasn’t even corporeal—just a voice in your head? Naggy as hell, sure, but at least he was consistently there for Roe in his own way. Sometimes he was funny, sometimes flirty, and he genuinely seemed into the MC, which gave him some points.

Spoiler: WWC

Now, about Lorcan—I won’t let you slander him like that! But seriously, I used to feel the same way until I found out Crowny outed his mom’s affair. I mean, that led to her death and his dad’s imprisonment—of course he'd be furious. Still, he can’t blame it all on them, especially since his dad was abusive. But you can’t reason with a kid processing trauma like that. I originally planned to romance Imre since he seemed into the MC, even though Nia warned us his attention might not be a good thing. I chose to ignore it, but after the latest update, I lost all interest in him—yeah, she was right. Lorcan, on the other hand, really grew on me. If you’re kind to him, he becomes this mushy tsundere mess.

As for The Night Market, I don’t remember Milo ever explicitly saying he was polyamorous or that he wouldn’t romance the MC unless they also romanced Mal. I just recall him mentioning Mal as his ex and alluding to their falling outs. Maybe I missed something since I haven’t replayed it after its full release—I only found out about the poly aspect through comments on Itch.
In Book 1, I actually liked Mal because he was the only one who genuinely asked the MC what they wanted to do, stood up for them, and consistently took their side. And after Milo betrayed us, I figured—why not go for Mal instead? When I later found out they basically come as a package deal, it didn’t bother me much since I was already considering romancing one of them anyway.
That said, romancing only one of them while they’re still in a relationship with each other feels awkward. And not being upfront from the start that they come as a duo? Yeah… that’s a problem. Honestly, it feels like it wasn’t planned from the beginning and the author decided to go that route while wrapping up Book 1.

Spoiler: Poly

Personally, I’m not a big fan of poly relationships when the two ROs already have a shared past. It tends to make the MC feel like a third wheel—especially when they start reminiscing about things the MC wasn’t there for or sharing inside jokes. But I decided to give it a try, because in Book 2, their relationship clearly still has unresolved issues, and both of them seem to care about the Night Market and you have got Mal to back you up when facing Milo again.
Milo is clearly still angsty over what he did to NM, and Mal—if I’m remembering right—had a crush on NM back when he was still a gatekeeper. So now you’ve got two fools who were in love, had a messy fallout, and fell for the same person. They get jealous of each other (especially Milo, when NM shows interest in Mal), and it’s a whole thing. But yeah, if you're planning to romance just one of them, there's a good chance the NM will end up feeling sidelined and forced to play couple therapist between their boyfriend and boyfriend's boyfriend.

You literally spoke everything I wanted to say...🥹 Would you like to share any ifs you recommend?

 

[Fuffff]

Features that were clearly added at the last second by the author are so funny to me. In the WIP Thicker Than you can choose your age, but it doesn't matter at all what you pick. What I find weird is that if you pick to play as an old man, you'll still be treated as a teenager and your MC will act and talk like a teenager as well. It shows what type of MC the writer had in mind.

 

[SasariRomanii]

Features that were clearly added at the last second by the author are so funny to me. In the WIP Thicker Than you can choose your age, but it doesn't matter at all what you pick. What I find weird is that if you pick to play as an old man, you'll still be treated as a teenager and your MC will act and talk like a teenager as well. It shows what type of MC the writer had in mind.

I like Barbara Truelove's writing but the two MCs she's written somehow felt juvenile. It's not as bad on the first book but on her recent one since as you've stated we can pick the age it doesn't make sense for the older MC

 

[lena990]

View attachment 22755

When you meet your childhood friend (who you can choose to be your ex-girlfriend), you can also choose the reason you broke up with her, one option is that you were double cucked.

This is the only cheating RO I could forgive - because it's so ambiguous, you don't even know if Barlow ever did it, you don't get some detailed scene how you caught them making out more with someone else, nothing about the people they apparently cheated with.

There's another RO in her book, in that Spice of Chef (or whatever it's called) who cheated and you get much more details how it went, which already makes me that ex ad undesirable RO.

It's not going to ever happen in any of these books but only way to forgive cheating Ro? Cheat on them back and make them watch MC with others - that's my way

 

[realman]

It's not going to ever happen in any of these books but only way to forgive cheating Ro? Cheat on them back and make them watch MC with others - that's my way

I honestly wouldn't mind seeing more cheating ROs if you had the ability to cheat on them too, but that's obviously never going to happen because the people making these kind of ROs make MC a doormat, y'know, just so you can never make the assholes leave you alone because all you can do is cower.

I think what pisses me off especially is that these ROs do not even giving a **** that they cheated and they belittle MC even when they get forgiven.

With Barlow it's a bit different because you DON'T have to pick that they cheated and they're also just very groveling to you?? been a while since i read wgyl so i dont know if that's the perfect description, but they clearly want you back despite everything.

still would never pick the option that they cheated but yeah wgyl is the only one with this trope that i can tolerate

 

[Fuffff]

I honestly wouldn't mind seeing more cheating ROs if you had the ability to cheat on them too, but that's obviously never going to happen because the people making these kind of ROs make MC a doormat, y'know, just so you can never make the assholes leave you alone because all you can do is cower.

I think what pisses me off especially is that these ROs do not even giving a **** that they cheated and they belittle MC even when they get forgiven.

With Barlow it's a bit different because you DON'T have to pick that they cheated and they're also just very groveling to you?? been a while since i read wgyl so i dont know if that's the perfect description, but they clearly want you back despite everything.

still would never pick the option that they cheated but yeah wgyl is the only one with this trope that i can tolerate

To me, the issue is not that the ROs don’t care about hurting MC, that may be part of their personalities to be assholes (even if it's becoming an annoyingly overused trope in IFs). But the main issue is that as you said, the MC can't do anything other than cry/sob/whimper/lacrimate/weep/wail/snivel/howl/screech/yelp/yowl/yammer/whine. Not just when it comes to cheating ROs, but to ******* ROs in general. If writers made the MC be an ******* back, or beat the **** out of them, or teach them a lesson, even without violence, my complaints would be gone.

I hate the enemies-to-lovers trope so much because most ROs in this trope are Tumblr-coded assholes. ROs can be enemies without being comically annoying, quirky/stoic pieces of crap. My perfect enemies-to-lovers would be one where they might hate each other, but still respect each other and don’t resort to name-calling. A good example is Sauron x Galadriel from Rings of Power (even though this would make Tolkien roll in his grave, and that the show is the worst thing I’ve ever laid eyes on), they actually did well in that part.