Unfamiliar as I am with harem stuff (indeed, I usually actively avoid it), I'll go ahead and ask...does the childhood friend REALLY get the shaft that often? I get that variety's the point and even that one question is taking harem stuff more seriously than it takes itself, but in every such thing that I even check out, the childhood friend always seems like the natural choice.

I'd play this.

Evertide said:

Unfamiliar as I am with harem stuff (indeed, I usually actively avoid it), I'll go ahead and ask...does the childhood friend REALLY get the shaft that often? I get that variety's the point and even that one question is taking harem stuff more seriously than it takes itself, but in every such thing that I even check out, the childhood friend always seems like the natural choice.

I'd play this.

Usually the "first girl" tends to get the guy in harem animes. The childhood friend then tends to come around to add to the hijinks but rarely do they get the guy in the end. It happens so often that some harem anime lampshade this as an in joke.

NegativeSoul said:

Usually the "first girl" tends to get the guy in harem animes. The childhood friend then tends to come around to add to the hijinks but rarely do they get the guy in the end. It happens so often that some harem anime lampshade this as an in joke.

Even in harem games the childhood friend is usually an obligatory secondary route, and very rarely are they the main heroine of the game's overall plot. Which would be why animes based off them never pick the childhood friend over "first girl", unless they use the "All" route but that's also pretty rare.

After finishing OreShura, I'd pay for a game like this. The ending just left unsatisfied.

JUST OSANANAJIMI

worldendDominator said:

JUST OSANANAJIMI

Now there's an idea. A VN where the entire romance casts is a childhood friend of the protagonist. So whichever route you choose, the childhood friend wins.

Valentine322 said:

Now there's an idea. A VN where the entire romance casts is a childhood friend of the protagonist. So whichever route you choose, the childhood friend wins.

Wasn't that shuffles story hinge? Most if not all the cast were child hood friends, if some for only 1 afternoon?

Well I suppose Muv-Luv alternative probably did make millions so he's not wrong.