Hey! Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a long comment and for the compliments! <3 We're glad to hear you enjoyed the game overall. Btw, sorry about the late reply! One of the writers is away on vacation, so we had to wait for her response on how to reply to some of your remarks on the route she wrote.
Firstly, about Zel's second ending, we totally understand why you, like a lot of other players, dislike this ending. It is meant to be irresponsible, actually. But when us writers first came up with this idea, we thought this may be a good option to offer to the players because the way we saw it was we can't blame Charmin for running. She's 18, already has the weight of the world on her shoulders, and if she goes back, she'll either have to make Zel give up his dreams (and her passion for adventuring), or never be with the guy he loves while he goes off exploring the world. So we presented this as an option to the players -- you don't HAVE to accept your duties as your princess. Is it the right thing to do? Probably not. Is it selfish and irresponsible? Yes, definitely. But it's understandable, at least to us writers. However, that said, having taken into account the player responses regarding Zel's second ending, we are considering changing it a bit, at least to make it slightly more responsible. xD It's not firm yet, as it highly depends on how the storyline for Zel's route goes, as well as the endings for the other routes.
As for Zel's backstory, it was deliberately omitted because if we give out all the details and answers now, then why would anyone replay the new Zel route in the full game? ;) Same with Snow's route. A lot of the unanswered questions are left deliberately unanswered so we can explore them in the full game instead. Dragon will indeed have a lot more screen time in the full game, since everyone seems to love him so much! :D
Secondly, about Snow, we're glad to hear you liked his character! :D It's funny because Snow was the least favorite character pre-release xD The playboy type really isn't popular in general, apparently. Especially glad to hear that you liked the first ending! We had hoped it wouldn't come across as a bad ending even though you don't end up married to Snow, and we tried for a bittersweet feel, so it's great to hear that it turned out well.
Next, about Mer. Haha Mer's route was definitely inspired by the darker tone of the original fairy tale. Glad to hear you enjoyed his interactions with Charming (for the most part) though! You aren't the only one who's mentioned the attempted murder coming rather suddenly out of nowhere, as well as the abrupt endings, so we will take that into account and hopefully Mer's route in the final game won't be as jarring! For the second ending, it seems like players either love it, or don't quite like it xD We totally understand why you don't like it! Though, as much as we hate to disappoint, the writer of Mer's route would most likely keep Mer's backstory and the endings the same in the full game, only elaborating more and adding more interaction scenes.
Nicholl will indeed have a route in the full game! Originally, he was planned to be a secret 4th route, but we didn't have enough time to go for it T_T He became so popular among fans that we can't not give him his own route in the full game. xD His route... oh man ;) I think y'all are gonna be surprised.
Super happy that you liked Snow and Charming <3 Thank you so much for all the kind words and for trying our game! Hopefully, we won't disappoint with the final version!