The 3 possible romantic situations in Along the Edge are: single, engaged or married. The game is really not about romance. :)
It's really a shame if somebody feels the urge to judge such a creative and artistically beautiful game just because it doesn't share his/her opinions of "diversity". Not every game needs to portray all aspects of social life - it wants to tell a story and it's the developer's poetical freedom to do so.
That said, I just decided to buy the game right now.
I don't get your fight over this matter. This is not an otome game or anything of the sort. It's a regular visual novel and the romance is not a main part of the plot. The developer decided not to make that the focus of the story. We have plenty of other otome games with yuri elements, etc out there to choose from.
Anyhow, this visual novel looks fantastic. I would love to know if it'll be on steam at some point.
You know as a person who has played this game I can tell your assumptions about it are not entirely correct. There are some gendered binaries in this game but that is heteronormative whether you end up single or not. Also, I play Fallout 4 and over there you have the choice to be bi, gay or pan and I respect that and love it! And yes, this is not a dating sim. I can say "awww" to some of the romance scenes but the bulk of the game is not at all dedicated to romance. And giving the setting and as I know the characters having a same sex relationship would to some people look disrespectful and it would not all give a positive message. Diversity comes in many forms like also having an ace or demi sort of orientation which is also not included in this game which is also something worth thinking about. And having a heterosexual interest doesn't mean heteronormative. Please understand that. If you date both sexes or all genders that still means you are LGBTQA+ and that means something. Also, if you as the protagonist date all sexes and end up with a het choice that still makes you queer. I really liked this game though there was some parts that seemed really gendered to me and I really wanted to thrash one of the characters it's still is pretty good. I actually wanted them to extend some storylines. Now, there are not 3 romanceable options. There are 2 and from the beginning it is your story as Daphne you can tell them to sod off. Personally, as I stated one of them made me wanna punch to tomorrow. And I am happy you can end up alone. You can say why not include the SGA dimension and to some extent that choice in this story may not have bode well. Trust me in the story it would look kinda "trying hard" but not building up on it. Also, it would be weak representation.
<SPOILER: SPOILER AVOID THIS AVOID THIS IF YOU DON'T WANNA BE SPOILED:
Some of the achievements depend on "WHO" you date. And yeah I had to date someone because I wanted that achievement though to be honest I wanted to punch his face to kingdom come. But get this some of our choices automatically makes it impossible to date someone even if you wanted. So, yeah, in the storyline the romance part is not important. This is Daphne's story and that is more important. Yes, if you commit to a relationship or some romantic interactions it does affect which baseline Daphne is emerging out of. That is a weakness in this game but not always. It just shows how you are treating people has some effect on who you are. Though I see some aspects of it related to criticism. Like Frank: that dude is a complete jerk!>
Agreed. Talking down at someone while demanding representation of LGBTQ elements as if being queer is an under-represented and repressed thing within the genre famous for yaoi and yuri is downright demeaning. As a bisexual individual, but more importantly, someone who writes and understand that writing is a form of art, it is insulting. If we force every piece of media to feature LGBTQ romances, not only are we stifling art, we are telling people that it's ok, and even a GOOD thing, to treat queer people within media like token pieces. Not only that, but we tell the world that all that matters about you is your sexual orientation. Gay is not a person's personality, nor does it or should it have any bearing on who YOU are. Gay people are just people. Like anyone else. Who you fall in love with doesn't make you, you.
I think that maybe you are not looking at this from the right angle. Clearly this visual novel was not written in the same, normal style of dating sim that most vns are written in. This game, from everything I am reading, is more heavily focused upon STORY. The author had a story to tell, and that story is theirs. I think that maybe you are free to not want to read a story that you don't want to read, and free to walk away from it(so honestly nobody is forcing anything upon you), but it's honestly kind of rude to try to dictate how someone's story should go. As a person who writes myself, I can tell you this: An author is an artist, and words are their medium. If you don't like the art, just walk away. But don't think to dictate how an artist should paint/write/sing/ or dance. Art cannot be contained, cannot be caged, and each artist should be free to express themselves as their inspiration dictates, else it is not art at all. To be fair, there are plenty of otomes that cater to the LGBTQ community's tastes. Some people prefer straight romances, but you don't see them hounding the author of a game about it when there is no straight romance option in an otherwise intriguing game. They simply don't purchase it; nor do they feel the need to rub it into the authors face in what feels like an attempt to MAKE the author change. I feel that it is only fair if we treat other games the same way.