Semi-stream-of-consciousness??? I did edit a little bit but mostly I typed this in the order I thought about it.

Ah shit. A fictional boy just told my fictional girl that she looks amazing and now my legs are tingling and GB Patch has more than likely successfully made the THIRD perfect guy.

JAZZ CLUB DATE! JAZZ CLUB DATE! JAZZ CLUB DATES ARE SO HOT AND THIS IS NOW THE SECOND DATING SIM I'VE PLAYED THAT HAS ONE!!!

Oh my God, whichever writers GB Patch hired to work on the Baxter DLC are making WAY more references than usual and that's hilarious to me. I mean, a POTION SELLER reference??? And Pepe Le Pew, more prominently.

I've made a grave error in playing my favorite dating sim and accidentally winding up at a grand confession of love right before I had to go to choir practice. I have that wild energy that only comes from fangirling and I need to suppress it in public.

I love that Baxter's route is "the one where your guy ACTUALLY breaks laws." He rents a car despite not being old enough to because loopholes, he drinks underage, and then FIVE YEARS LATER he semi-breaks-and-enters into his work building to slow-dance with his lover and has the gall to say he's only a criminal "in a certain light." This man is stupid and I love him. I think I can say with certainty that his route has made me laugh the most.

More Terry was sorely needed, and this route supplies. I considered him one of my least favorite characters— not at ALL because he was bad, but because he had such little focus and I didn't find him all that compelling. But damn, his energy is infectious and he's SUCH a light to the main character's friend group. I think he's the main reason ANYTHING ever happens to them. So yeah. He's won me over entirely.

GOD, do I ever have the same damn problem I always have with dating sims. I WANT TO DO ALL THE ROUTES AT ONCE SOMEHOW. Doing two of them platonically and one romantically, or even doing three platonically, would be so wonderful because I REALLY want all three of these men to be happy and to have the wonderful self-discovery and healing that they encounter on their routes.

I love how much this route is party propaganda. It unabashedly touts how challenging and yet rewarding party planning is, and the joy of surprising people and going above and beyond for them. Your friends basically get addicted to party planning, in a funny, round-about way. I think there's a grand total of four? And they keep saying "Never again" and keep getting dragged into it.

Lol I like jokingly thinking about the Our Life boys like difficulty levels. Even though there's no bad endings in this game and therefore you literally can't fuck it up, actually dating the three of them (or even being close friends with them???) has more and more roadblocks progressively.
Cove is Easy Mode— If you state that your character has a crush on him, he will accept your romantic advances no matter when you start pursuing them, and will even confess to you if you don't do it by a certain point. He has problems and flaws, of course, but he's ALWAYS willing to talk about them, whether or not he really understands why he does certain things. You're his safe place and special person, after all. You're his childhood friend and the reason he's able to have a happy life after his parents' divorce. What reason could he possibly have for being reticent (other than some teenage crush awkwardness)?
Derek is Intermediate Mode— He extends the marriage pact to you as long as you don't indicate that you want to date Cove or that you're not interested in men. But he resists actually trying to date in Step 2, and even pretends like your first date is just a "practice date" because he can't let himself process it as real. He admits to you that he wants someone to do as much for him as he does for other people, and he admits later that he was saying that with you in mind, but as a thirteen-year-old, he will basically put it all off if you admit you have feelings for him. So you have to wait ten years, but if you actually stick to the promise and keep in contact with him through all that time, he's IMMEDIATELY willing to reciprocate a confession and will eventually confess himself if you don't do it first. In Step 4, he's refreshingly vulnerable and basically decides from the moment you meet up again that he has very little reason to hide from you.
Baxter is Hard Mode— The dude literally fights against anything lasting, secure, and good for himself as a creed. You can have a fling in Step 3, but no matter how attached you let yourself get and no matter how much you still mean to him, he WILL leave and ghost you for five years. Even during the fling, it's clear he keeps his walls up and specifically dislikes showing you any of his flaws or pain. And then when you serendipitously wind up in each other's lives again to plan someone else's wedding, he keeps you at BEYOND an arm's length. But of course, if you're on his route, it means you're damn persistent. And you battle for every scrap of vulnerability you can get by taking slow, steady steps until he bursts open like a floodgate and releases like a decade of trauma/accepts your confession. Uncertain whether he confesses if you don't (I've only played it all the way through once), and he probably does, but he's the only one I doubt that about.
So the OL boys are hypothetically Level 1, 2, and 3. And I. LOVE. ALL OF THEM.

Our Life: Beginnings and Always is officially completed forever. I've spent two years and nearly 400 hours playing it, and I'm probably not even gonna stop. This game is so lovely and warm and hopeful. It's so meaningful. It makes me feel safe. And it makes me appreciate every relationship I have in my world.