The Great Rewritening: Chapter 3 Feedback Request

i absolutely agree with the above comments. a lot of times it feels like the narrative is pushing the idea that forgiving john & hope is the right decision, and it just feels off. button has been through a lot, and i think they’re absolutely in their rights to want nothing to do with their parents (especially hope) again. i’d love an option to be able to tell nick to back off a little when he gets uncomfortably pushy, and in general i want other characters to accept and understand button’s choice.

Maisie

I agree with this and think it would be cool for Button to have more stoic options in general.

I agree with the above comments about Button having options not to “get over” the past in order to bring the family back together (which is how at least one of my Buttons is reading the situation, whether or not that’s what Nick/John intend). I also would really love to see an option to resent them leaving, not just because of a sense of personal abandonment, but also—particularly for a Button with a positive relationship with Nick, but somewhat regardless—because of the immense pressure they put on Nick by bailing out. Nick would have been very young to be parenting a teenager, not to mention the professional responsibilities on top of that, so I’d love for Button to be able to resent that aspect of their parents moving away, too, and eventually to be able to confront John and Hope about the affect it had on BOTH siblings.

Kristen

I would agree with Kian. I love all the interactions, but i feel a lot of guilt trip to make Button accept their mother. What happened was a terrible accident and Hope leaving is not exactly bad. But it left marks and a lot of mental scaring on a kid that felt responsible to destroy their family. Nick and her father trying to make it like it's just "accept the apology" and not trying to understand trough Button's side just feels wrong. If there were options that would make clear that it's ok for Button not wanting to reconcile and their family understanding it would be great.

Rafaela Alves

for the lunch with john, i’ve always wanted perhaps some reserved/neutral options? like button may not resent them for leaving but that fact they have not lived together for years has weakened their relationship, they’re just not as close anymore

Hmm for the lunch meeting I would love if there's more options to express some level of anger that has nothing to do with John leaving or Button's fear of Hope, but rather just Button seeing Hope as the reason the entire family fell apart. Like expressing the sentiment that "Hope could have chosen to stay and figure out something- anything as a failsafe - but she just ran away."

My one thing is that I would love for there to be some indication within the story that Button choosing to keep their distance from John and Hope is okay. Because really, the way it’s presented is that they were abandoned. Because Hope had to leave for her mental health and John went with her. Button was left alone though, and that’s become immense guilt at having forced their brother to grow up and parent them. Button was abandoned, whether it was intentional or not. And negligent parenting like that causes damage. And I would love if the story had a few more ways to let you know it’s okay if your Button keeps their distance or cuts them out altogether. Because for the most part we have Nick who outright guilts Button about it, Gray who goes the classic ‘they didn’t mean to’ route, and then the interactions with John himself and being forced into the breakfast. It’s a difficult narrative to portray, that’s for sure. But I think there should be ways to show that distancing from John and Hope isn’t the WRONG decision, because that’s how it feels currently, starting with this chapter.

Kian

This is great feedback and exactly the kind of suggestion that I'm looking to hear! Thank you!

Jo O'Connor

I’ve always loved the interactions between characters in Mind Blind - every individual is unique and it shows how much hard work you put into this. When it comes to John and Hope, there were a lot more options for how Button could react to their presence than I thought there would be, but what seemed to be missing is the option to not fear their parents but simply be hurt by them leaving. It seems that we can be hurt by John leaving, but not necessarily Hope. Any options I chose in relation to a “negative” relationship with Hope seemed based off Button’s fear of their mother. Would it be possible to have a choice to explain that Button doesn’t fear Hope, but is simply hurt and perhaps uncertain in bridging the gap between them because she’s left once already, so what’s to stop her from doing it again? Or something similar to that. I’m sorry if that doesn’t come across clearly. And if there’s already an option like this in-game and I’ve missed it somewhere, apologies for that as well.

Nice

rasehum hiyuki