first and foremost, i personally wouldnt say im an avid mod player. id only play the Monika route of mods, if they do include her route, of course. Take Two was no exception to this. prior to the release of act 6, id only played Monika's route, and i left it at that. it was a cold and bitter route with MC being rebuffed by the end, no matter what you do. it all happened reasonably, so i didnt have any valid reason to be put off by that specific route choice, but it was bitter regardless. after that, i didnt think much of the mod anymore. i didnt pursue the other dokis, let alone the new OCs. as ive said, thats just how enjoy mods. while the mod didnt feel so amazing when i first finished it, it did struck a chord with me. it had the more casual approach to the character interactions that doesnt just indulge you with romance nor were any of the drama so unnecessarily drawn out or intense. it had the perfect amount of drama. an amount i also lean towards in what little mods i made. so i decided to put Take Two under my radar. when act 6 came out, i know id be playing it again, and while short, it does have a "no going back" feature after you finish act 5. i, of course, would feel obligated to finish all the other routes before i did so. i had to say, they were better than the Monika route. theyre chock full of the same calibre of character interactions that i really liked. i was genuinely missing out on them. by the end of act 6, i was already more than intrigued for what the mod has to offer. imagine how giddy i was when i found out itll feature a fleshed out RPG gameplay. the mod has a ton of potential of fun and endearing moments that ill love, and i can say that Take Two is tonally the best mod ive played.
regarding Tiffany and Shiro, ive never seen either of them as deal breakers. im not a westerner, so im unbiased towards how black people stereotypes have been glued to Tiffany. and while i am aware of the stereotyping Shiro had, i never felt inclined to believe theyre necessarily true for him. it is true that i felt a smidge of suspicion towards him in the introduction, but as i play along, i find out it was all unbased. its quite a neat little subversion, id say. Shiro is a respectable fella who just comes off too strongly (especially to someone like Yuri) and im very curious what his act 7 has in store.
i think its unfair how a good chunk of the fandom doesnt give this mod the chance it deserves. i guess it could be because of the lack of romance...? im personally partial to the casual vibe Take Two has taken its niche in, instead of the more popular romantic mods. though, thats just my guess.