No? I got the distinct impression in the non-wolf branches (the lower two on the gallery chart, IIRC) that Bastian was (as I think he says, more or less) definitely in love with Kirsten, but misguided and allowed his followers too much of a free reign; he seemed fairly remorseful and respectful of Christina's individual choice - I mean, he let her leave unmolested if that's what she chose, right? To me, the kitchen scene was just an illustration of that - that he's just some guy who doesn't think of Christina as an object, and just happens to be a vampire.
That's the idea, I know. It just didn't ring true to me. I didn't feel the emotion there. It might also matter that
he talked about needing someone to teach him about the human world, and at the very beginning, when asked what Christina wanted to do with her life, I said "Teacher". That led me to believe that he found out- maybe Lucy told him- and was just saying what she *wanted* to hear. Actually, I got more of a sense of his emotion from the low wolf path.
As for Sierra- times have changed, dudette. ^_^ Back then we got two games a year- Xmas and Birthday- so we wanted a lot of play out of them, and honestly we weren't very picky. The early Dragon Warriors, with their pain-in-the-ass powerleveling, was considered awesome in it's day mainly because it kept you occupied for a long time. But now it's painful to play through. Another thing is that older games killed you off frequently and often capriciously, so saving was a necessity. With modern adventure games, the rule, unless otherwise warned, is that you can't die or make a fatal mistake. So people don't save as often. Plus, with Fatal Hearts you have limited save slots, so you have a similar problem if you save relentlessly- you wind up overwriting old stuff and missing things.
Anyway, long story short I don't like it and neither do a lot of people. So there.
On to brighter matters- Playthrough #3, the low wolf path leading to endings 13 and 14. Much, much more satisfying then the lowest path. A change of pace from the others I've played so far- there the heroine was more or less a spectator who struggled just to find out what was going on- but here she takes a more active role. I'm also noticing that, despite the differing foci of the plotlines, they complement each other rather then creating plotholes and contradictions. Each path tells the same story, but along each you find different details, so you slowly learn the truth about what happened 200 years ago... and what's going on now. The latest playthrough reveals
that someone else may have been pulling Sebastian's strings- and that it seems falling for Kirsten was part of some plot.
My only complaint is that the ending kinda comes out of nowhere- I had hoped the fateful meeting would have been a bit more expanded, but it just kinda stopped on a
one-hit kill and quick epilogue. It also said that Eric died, when he actually survived- at least the way it played out for me.
The puzzles are also much more enjoyable- shopping and the dream maze are standouts. The leaf puzzle is good too, but the timer is unnecessary. Graphics are awesome, but a bit TOO awesome. The ones with
Randy meeting Christine outside her house
were too different- more like paintings then the other art, and they clash.
My opinion's moving up again. More to come. ^_^