DISCUSSION: Rule Breaker (previously "Off Limits")

Same, girl.

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I think Ryan’s not a love interest? My impression is that his crush is unrequited. I’d actually like if there were an alternative to the main LI, though, whom I hate. I’m kind of surprised they didn’t make Ryan a legit second LI option for the revamp. They could have even kept the name Ryan for a female LI option. But I think if they let the reader change Ryan’s gender and appearance, people might have been extra annoyed when that character turned out not to be at all romanceable.

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An alternative love interest would have been good, yes. Dating your dad’s friend who is over (at least) 3 years older than you isn’t everybody’s cup of tea.
It is most certainly not mine.

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Reading Off Limits, and nope he isn’t. He and MC actually kinda ended on good terms and remained friends. But still weird that he was baited with kinda cheating and not talking Candy. Plus the whole ‘Isa/Easton literally stopped a date just to get evidence of his crush’ thing…

This was the same issue with Carter from a little more me tbh. I bet he wasn’t an actual LI too in the original but Episode made him an LI still, albeit spending less time on him compared to Jace/Cait.
The branches only are different through the different genders of the primary LI, while not considering as much for the phones-in one

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I thought the same thing about A Little More Me. My impression is that Prosecutie may have created a second LI out of a supporting character. Why Me? did that as well with Tony. I wonder why Ryan didn’t make the cut for a LI upgrade.

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I wonder: if Episode prefers Featured stories to have 2 LIs, why not direct authors to write those/find stories with them in the first place?

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Yeah, it’s kind of like the issue of adapting 40-episode stories to 8 episodes. If they have such a clear idea of what they want, they should try to find stories like that rather than forcing other stories to fit certain mold.

I do appreciate backup love interests. 99% of the time I prefer the second LI to the main one. I also think more featured stories need “neither of you” as an option in the final romantic choice.

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Recapping this week’s (and kind of last week’s too) chapter:

Summary

This first starts off with Candy and MC in the cafe (which is so cute tbh) talking about what happened last chapter (i.e. MC waking up with Iz on the couch after a night of watching action movies). That scene was so weird too: Iz trying their best to not look at MC’s butt while she’s still sleeping, and doing the interested-sitting animation while at it. If you play in Easton’s branch, there is even mention of his … morning wood. Even though MC didn’t mention that during that time (friend-zoning them too), MC was freaking out on it this chapter. Once they spotted the ex with two girls, they scattered out to MC’s pool.

On a side note, it kinda sucks that Isa doesn’t have multiple tattoos and a piercing, but it’s not really important in the grand scale of things. Speaking of, Iz is just staring at them from inside the house, and Candy points it out as such. Before they actually join, MC gets a call from her dad. Then, Candy confronts Iz on their ‘text’ they sent which broke MC’s heart. In the last chapter, it was sent by Ava when Iz was busy changing. Iz didn’t find out about it until then because Ava deleted the text group or something (which is weird, because wouldn’t MC get a notification that Iz deleted the text group…?).

Ava having weird, catty tactics as a teacher (although I wanted to root for her for breaking them apart) aside, Iz - instead of quickly explains their side - just immediately goes to Ava’s place to confront her. In the meantime, Candy mentions Tim (the new guy she likes) inviting them to karaoke. MC is apprehensive since apparently it also serves alcohol and they’re ‘not 21’. Oh, so now you care about drinking in the right age (then again could be Iz), but besides that usually they serve non-alcoholic options? Back to Ava, she thought Iz was in the mood when they are instead ticked. Apparently, since they got together they never actually became fully intimate. But too late for that, because they quickly broke up with her.
I’m still a bit unsure about this, not because of Ava’s actions (which were rightfully called out) but because of her motives. She just said she was jealous, which fair enough, but I still remember that she is MC’s teacher at one point, so I assume she cares a bit about her students’ welfare. Shouldn’t she also have this thing about MC’s current guardian, which just so happen to be her boy/girlfriend, possibly taking advantage of her? But of course, she’s just Crazy Girl who likes LI too.
So there is another gem choice for the karaoke outfit: this awesome neon (quote Pantone Perfect?) criss-cross dress and the black/white overall one. There, Candy also lied to Iz about going to the cafe. At the karaoke place, they have fun (sober) and singing Spice Girls’ Wannabe. There is also another gem choice to let Candy and Tim be alone and talk to Ryan (19 gems). Literally the other choice is ‘Stay and ruin their moment’ :roll_eyes:. Meanwhile, Iz and their friends (Oliver and Mustafa) are hanging out, drinking beer (in champagne glasses?) and Oliver teased Iz for having a crush on MC (quote ‘totally picturing her in a pink towel right now’, ew). Mustafa also said something about who would be interested. Iz replied back in the ‘conflict’ of the story: that MC’s dad would be disheartened even at the idea of them just kissing.
After this hangout, Iz was watching a weird ad for a dakimakura (girlfriend pillow) while there is breaking news that Joey’s Coffee (the cafe Candy lied about) caught on fire. Weirdly, the story uses a background which says Moonstone Cafe? And Iz legit ran all the way there from their place just to rescue her, and hassled a cop too.
This final scene is just so contrived too. After MC returns from the karaoke place, Ryan comments how nice MC looks (despite being the non-gem choice). Then Iz comes back home late (assumingly without someone close to them being contacted about possibly getting into police trouble), screaming that they can’t bear to lose her. When they saw her alive, they went to have their First Kiss.

All in all, parents don’t exist in this world except for MC’s dad and mom (and kinda Amare who is literally not mentioned once since).

And omg, a Sandra G featured story that is continuing after 12 chapters? :partying_face::partying_face::partying_face:

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Seriously though, I’m more surprised at this continuing than I should be, because of our rant about unnecessarily shortening Long stories

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It’s ironic this is the story to be continued beyond 12 episodes, as it’s the only recent story to be featured before the original was even complete.

I think Rebounding might be longer than 12 too. At least I hope so. I actually like that one. The beta listed that one as having 15.

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I 'm hopeful in spite of this. Looks like Episode is kinda trusting itself again to release longer Featured stories, and in turn even better quality ones.

I wonder though how’s going to work, like if Rule Breaker would eventually be very different to Off Limits because the original is still gem-free and Sandra has a lot of hidden assets

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Some of the new featured stories have been the worst quality featured stories I’ve ever seen, without naming any specifically, so if they do more like Rebounding, I’d be happy. And while I’m not really into the romance genre, Sandra G writes and directs better stuff than a lot of the other recent ones, so if this and Rebounding are in fact over 12 episodes, it might be a good sign. Plus we can always count on Sandra to actually use the hidden assets.

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I’m pretty sure most have been copy and paste jobs from the original stories they’ve bought. Not even the CC has been updated.

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In the case of at least one, the CC has actually been downgraded.

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Me then at 12 chapters: omg yes longer featured stories!!!
Me now after seeing Rule Breakers end at 13: never mind :expressionless:

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Ugh.

The 13th episode did feel rushed, but not nearly as badly as the other featured stories that were crammed into 8 episodes. Having no choice but to end up with Easton, however, repulsed me. At least now I guess I know not to read the rest of the original. Disappointing because I did like the MC of this story and felt she deserved better, but I am at least glad that she finally stood up to her controlling father.

A final note, this preppy pink polo was so out of character for Easton that I spent the last two scenes staring at it incredulously and missed most of what the characters said. :rofl:

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That shirt has the same energy as the you know I had to do it to em guy

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At least it ended in a somewhat resolved manner, since last week’s chapter is actually a good spot for an ending.
Also I want to check out the scene you mentioned about the dad.

And I also get what you mean with MC. At some points I get why she would rebel and do it follow stupid things, but then again I would still kinda sigh_disappointed at most of her actions though

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I guess my standards are low in comparison to most featured story MCs, but I like that she held her own when Easton tried to flirt with her, and she didn’t take shit from people. In terms of her deserving better, I guess I mean she just deserves a better than Easton, who I honestly think is a creep.

Also, even though the MC doesn’t have sex with him, you end up making out in bed with him regardless of your choices, and it’s a little alarming. I don’t really think that stories that have you name the character should put your MC in bed with anyone without reader consent. I don’t personally name them after myself because of stuff like this happening.

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Yes, chief~

BTW, reading the original, yes there were some more contrived and questionable scenes that eventually puts the two together.

This is contrary to what you may be saying, but for me, Easton … barely does anything, as in actually try to look like a romantic interest towards MC. All he does is ‘perv’ at her at inopportune times but never goes further because he had a girlfriend and didn’t want to disappoint his friend. Wouldn’t it kinda make more sense to put less emphasis on Ava and more on, you know, the dad???

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