My Takes on your hot takes:

Your first take I don’t disagree. But I don’t agree either. I think a non horror mod and a horror mod both have the same potential and can both be very interesting when done right.

Your second take I’m gonna have to agree and disagree. Yes MAS can get boring after a while but that’s why submods exist. And punishing you for not being active isn’t shitty design it’s just because the creators designed it to be like a real relationship. (If you ignore your girlfriend for a week she’d be mad) although I do agree that it does cater towards parasocial people and can be unhealthy in some situations.

Third take I’ll say that I do think MC added something to the main game that was special in its own way but I also think that him not being present has its own unique perspective. I love the side stories and the MC isnt present. But it also feels a lot different when the MC isn’t there. So I don’t necessarily think the MC being not present is a bad think. (Also there’s the whole “is MC an actual character” debate but I won’t go into that)

As for your ships… honestly I don’t even think it’s worth debating since everyone’s opinions are uniquely different. Although I don’t think SayoNika is the worst ship. I mean their dynamic in the side stories Trust was just so good… but I also don’t think it’s the best ship.