Oh, true! I just started a new game and skipped everything just to check if I could advance to next chapter and I couldn't because it indeed told me that I had to unlock every sacred frame and chess, I had no idea they were mandatory because I always did it on my own before trying next chapter, sacred frames are easy, just click on highlighted things during the story, as for unlocking the chess, it is more complicated because you have to take note of numbers or characters to compose a code, it's not that hard either.
I played every chess puzzle in the first two chapters but it quickly grew tedious and I stopped bothering from the third chapter however I still unlocked the board to earn the drop of power.
Then you don't really hate Issei, you are frustrated by the fact that you ever appreciated him because you feel ashamed to have done so, your disgust is actually directed towards yourself.
The same happens to me all the time whenever I try to replay or rewatch something that I used to love, I realize that I don't like it anymore because I evolved and my tastes evolved with myself.
For example, I really enjoyed playing Undertale when it was released and I considered it my favorite game for years... until I replayed it and couldn't stand its childish naivety anymore, everyone is too kind and becomes friends forever too easily, I realized that Undertale is really not as deep as everyone claims it to be, it is actually superficial as if it doesn't dare to be too serious and wants to stay light-hearted, exactly like animes "for all public", I couldn't find myself in this childish game that I used to love anymore so I stopped playing it and got rid of it.
This is only one example but the same thing happened with MANY other things because life is just like a RPG in the sense of as we experience things, we learn and we evolve, our perception of the world evolves and our tastes evolve as well, there are many things that I used to enjoy and that I can't stand anymore because I am no more the same as I used to be.
This is what happened to you with DxD, when you first watched it, you enjoyed it, and then, when you watched it years later, you were no more the same as you were the first time and you couldn't stand it anymore, this is not Issei's fault, this is your evolution, you are just no more compatibles, that's all. π
Ah, yes, I so feel you, pal, I can't stand it either when the so-called hero can't do anything by himself and everyone rushes to his help, that's why I can't stand Harry Potter, because this "chosen one" never succeeds anything by himself, he is just spoiled by everyone and ridiculously lucky because J.K.Rowling designed the universe to go Harry Potter's way, for example he didn't defeat Voldemort because of his skills, he was just protected by his mother's sacrifice without him having to lift a finger for it, then he was saved by Dumbledore's phoenix, then he was lucky that his wand contained the other feather from the same phoenix as Voldemort's, once again without him having to lift a finger for it, then he was saved by the Order of Phoenix, then he was secretly protected by Severus Snape, then he was saved by Narcissa Malfoy because she couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts to find her son (which doesn't explain why Harry Potter had to be alive for that), then Voldemort's own death spell returned against himself because his wand acknowledged Harry Potter as its true master, Lord Voldemort was actually killed by his own wand without the "chosen-one" Harry Potter having to lift a finger to defeat him, that is just ridiculous how luck is always on Harry Potter's side, which ruins his credibility as a hero because he never achieves anything by himself, everyone rushes to his help and even the universe spoils him, he is nothing but a spoiled lucky brat, I can't stand him! And that goes for every so-called "hero" who doesn't actually achieve anything by themselves but are just ridiculously lucky or/and spoiled by everyone around them!
Ahem, sorry, I got carried away here, anyway I understand your disgust for "heroes" who don't achieve anything by themselves and are nothing but spoiled lucky brats who are spoiled by everyone around them and you don't feel that they deserve it.
I'm sorry but I have to stop your delusions here, they are not your waifus (Damn, I hate this word, it always sounds like "I am a desperate otaku who fantasizes on anime girls who don't care about me!") unless you identify yourself as Issei because they are Issei's lovers therefore in order to imagine yourself as their lover then you have to identify yourself to THEIR lover who is Issei, they don't love YOU, they love ISSEI, so if you want them to love you, you have to be Issei, that is how it works and that is why I prefer games over animes and mangas (I don't like animes and mangas anymore anyway. π), because in games I get to control and really be the protagonist whereas in animes and mangas, I only get to watch him without any influence on him, he doesn't care about what I want, and therefore I am not as close to him as I would be as a playable character. π
THIS is exactly why this adult visual novel exists in the first place, because Issei is an obsessive pervert who spends all his time fantasizing about sex but chickens out every time an actual opportunity presents itself all for the sake of remaining "for all public" and not turn into hentai, this is all authors' hypocrisy's fault that they design pervert characters but don't dare to actually making sex happen, characters are victims of their designers' hypocrisy, and japanese designers are incredibly cowards and hypocrite, that's why I was an otaku for a few years when I discovered that animes were not only what we see on TV and that there are many more that I was not aware of but after a few years of intensively watching animes, I eventually grew sick of it, they become all the same when you watch many because japanese authors actually have no imagination, they copy each other and stick to the same patterns again and again, also they are insufferably hypocrite because they don't dare to show what they actually want to show and offer nothing but bland "for all public" stuff, also you could believe that life stops once you graduate because almost all of their stories happen in schools as if nothing ever happens outside of schools, I eventually grew sick of all this non-sense and I stopped being an otaku years ago and I pity otakus now because they don't realize that they are manipulated by hypocrites without imagination.
Oups, I got carried away again, anyway what I wanted you to understand is that Issei chickens out of every actual opportunity to fulfill his fantasies because of the authors' cowardice and hypocrisy who are scared to lose their "for all public" status and lose money because of it but since this visual novel is designed for adults then the author doesn't care about "for all public" status and censorship and therefore they will NOT make Issei chicken out of actual action like a pathetic coward in the anime, here he will ACTUALLY seize opportunities because here is not one of those "for all public" garbage! π
I assume that you are an otaku since you use their ridiculous words and therefore I assume that you also watched Kono Subarashii Sekai, the anime where a hikkikomori named Kazuma dies and is sent to an isekai (sigh, isekai too are lack of imagination) along with the goddess Aqua and forms a team with the crimson demon girl obsessed with explosion magic Megumi and the masochist paladin blonde girl Darkness? I hated Kazuma in the anime because he claimed that he is not like all those harem animes' protagonists who chicken out of opportunities and what did he do? He chickened out of opportunities even though he got the nerve to mock other harem animes' protagonists, he is just the same and this hypocrisy really got on my nerves! Then I discovered this: https://pastryirl.itch.io/adventurer-trainer
THIS is exactly what I wanted, an adult version of the "for all public" bullshit where things ACTUALLY happen and Kazuma is not a pathetic hypocrite coward who mocks other harem animes' protagonists but is no better himself. I assume that you can't stand Kazuma just as much as you can't stand Issei for the same pathetic hypocrisy and cowardice, right? Then play Adventurer Trainer even if you play as Kazuma and discover how much a character can be different when he is designed by another designer. Then maybe you will reconsider giving a fair chance to a new version of Issei. π
Thank you for your recommendation, I really appreciate that you want to share what you think I might enjoy, however considering what you told me, I don't want to play a game by a developer who does whatever his patrons want, I can't respect such developers who lack will to make what THEY want to make. By the way, did I mention how MUCH I despise Patreon already and am disappointed that so many creators enslave themselves to it? ππ
Developers think that since patrons fund them then it is only fair that they make what their benefactors want. But then, how is it any different than working for a publisher? How can you still consider yourself "independent" if you let your patrons dictate your development? That's why I can't stand Patreon, it is actually no different than any publisher and corrupts indie development. π£
See? You already noticed that Issei is different in this adult visual novel than he is in the anime and this is only the beginning. π
Unfortunately, in chapter 4, everyone calls you Issei and doesn't use your own name, which really broke the immersion for me, I think Naitoh forgot to script the use of the player's name. π
I know, right?! I disliked to lose my virginity to a random irrelevant girl who summoned me to fuck her for a contract instead of a meaningful girl such as one of the Occult Research Club and I couldn't believe that Koneko gave me a blowjob for no reason but I was happy when Akeno trained my focus, teased me and jerked me off on her face and breasts and when Rias gave me a titjob to relax me after a contract because I was thinking "YES! We ACTUALLY do things as opposite to that frustrating anime which offers nothing but teasing and blue-balling, I'm happy! π", then I started the next chapter and it resumed the story exactly where it left off at the previous chapter and so I was like "Wait, what? I am still when I was at the end of the previous chapter? Then everything I did between the chapters doesn't count? It didn't actually happen? NOOOOOOOOOOO! π", I really hate that all of the in-between chapters content is not part of the actual story because then it is irrelevant, it didn't actually happen, which frustrates me! π£