History YMMV / OpenHeartChoices

* BestLevelEver: Book 2 is widely considered to be a considerable step down from Book 1. This didn't stop Chapter 10 and especially Chapter 11 to be widely considered not only the best chapters in the series, but among the greatest chapters of any Choices series, due to being an absolute DramaBomb from start to end, featuring some of the most nerve-wracking, heartwrenching scenes In this series.

* BestLevelEver: Book 2 is widely considered to be a considerable step down from Book 1. This didn't stop Chapter 10 and especially Chapter 11 to be widely considered not only the best chapters in the series, but among the greatest chapters of any Choices series.

** Throughout Book 1, players are split on Casey's ShipTease with Kyra Santana until Chapter 11, when a premium scene where the gang goes skydiving pretty much revealed that she is ''[[ShipSinking not]]'' a love interest[[note]]The player is given a chance to share a brief romantic moment with someone during the fall: Bryce, Jackie, and Rafael are included as options but Kyra is not. Once everyone touches down, Kyra is seen making out with the group's instructor[[/note]]. One group approves of this and express their disappointment that she's not an official love interest because they find it refreshing to encounter a cancer patient with a cheerful and optimistic outlook on life, and also because they are upset with the skewed love interest ratio of 3:1. Another group disapproves of this because they think it's unethical for a doctor to pursue a relationship with a patient.

** Dolores Hudson dying in childbirth, leaving her son, Ethan, without either of his parents. Many agree that it's one of the saddest scenes, if not ''the'' saddest, in all of the Choices stories.

** Bryce Lahela and Jackie Varma are written as flawed but believable interns implied to have more nuance than meets the eye, but there are no opportunities to explore them because of Pixelberry's refusal to develop them properly in favor of devoting their efforts on [[CreatorsPet Ethan Ramsey]].

** In Chapter 15, Aurora expresses her frustration at everyone trying to use her because of her connection to Harper Emery, as a means to give her character more depth explaining her cold and overly guarded behavior. However, Casey points out that her decision to behave this way has backfired on her because the treatment she gets is not a justification to push other people away, including towards people who might even want to be genuinely friendly with her.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: Book 2, Chapter 11 is an absolute DramaBomb from start to end, featuring some of the most nerve-wracking, heartwrenching scenes in ''Open Heart''. It's also considered by many people to be the pinnacle of the series for this reason.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Several people applaud that Casey is able to talk back to people who act rude towards them such as Ethan Ramsey and [[spoiler:Landry Olsen]], as opposed to previous books which forced the player to be polite.
*** This gets subverted in Chapter 15, when Casey can tell Aurora to suck it up for her antagonistic behavior and choosing to push everyone away when they find her crying in the supply closet, yet ends up helping Landry by default even if the player chooses to not help him in the first place. Many players criticize how selective this has become, especially when they're still angry at Landry [[spoiler:for betraying Casey]] while Aurora is revealed to be innocent all along.
*** This ends up double subverted in the Book 1 finale, when Landry walks away if players leave him as the last person to talk to. Players applaud this move because they consider Landry unworthy of forgiveness and redemption. Alternatively, if you ''do'' talk to him before he leaves, you have the option to rub salt in the wound and say you ''really'' have something to celebrate now after learning he's leaving Edenbrook.
** Players also applaud the choice to have either Bryce Lahela or Jackie Varma (and later on Rafael Aveiro) to be the person present during certain scenes, giving them the opportunity to pick which love interest to hang out with.
** After numerous complains about numerous Choices books where the player can be either gender but there is no acknowledgement in the dialogue, even in Premium sex scenes (namely F/F scenes being obviously written as F/M to the point where they make no sense, spawning something of a MemeticMutation about the sudden appearance of penises during F/F scenes), the Premium sex scene with Ethan Ramsey in Chapter 15 and the Premium sex scenes in the final chapter have notably different writing for Casey depending on whether they are male or female.

** To his supporters, Dr. Ethan Ramsey is a genius and a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who shows tough love to Casey given that he's their boss. To his detractors, he's a condescending jerk who takes every opportunity to bully and belittle the interns, doesn't understand that they clearly feel stressed and overwhelmed, acts unprofessionally towards patients as well, and throws tantrums every time something doesn't go his way. His romance route is either adored for being a proper slow-burn romance or hated for making him similar to a DirtyOldMan who abuses his position to get Casey.

** Dr. Aurora Emery. On one hand, many players like her for her determination to step out of her aunt's shadow, strictly professional behavior towards both patients and co-workers, and gradual respect for Casey. On the other hand, there are players who dislike her for her initially cold, aloof behavior towards her co-workers, particularly Casey.
*** Chapter 4 is a controversial moment for her. While everyone agrees that her dismissal of Dolores’ case was unacceptable, given that Dolores was a pregnant woman admitted for “smoke inhalation” and later died from childbirth, the real debate comes from her character and the context surrounding her actions and motivations, especially after it's revealed that her dismissal is part of her plan to no longer be on the top of the list. While a few people think she crossed the MoralEventHorizon, many people view this as proof that she needs CharacterDevelopment, given her complex motivations and interactions with her aunt, co-workers, and patients, while continuing to characterize her as initially aloof, as they've noted her softness towards Annie and Tommy Liu. They also express their anger at being forced to hate her.

** Chapter 17 has Casey being able to give Declan Nash a punch in the face after their hearing.

* CriticalResearchFailure:
** In Book 3, Rafael becomes a physical therapist after taking a few certification courses. In reality, one needs undergraduate studies, a post-graduation degree, volunteer hours, and two rounds of internship before taking a certification exam. Moreover, there is no overlap between a physical therapist's training and a paramedic's, as Rafael claimed.
** In Chapter 3 of the same book, the patient describes a CT scanner as long and having loud clanging noises. In reality, that would be an MR scanner, which a robot wouldn't be allowed anywhere near as MR scanners use a big magnet. Also, while CT scanners and MR scanners look alike, the radiology room scene shows an MR scanner.

** Zaid/Ines is universally supported by the fandom due to their individual popularity and interaction together when they counsel Casey regarding Mrs. Martinez's situation and when they celebrate [[spoiler:after Casey wins their ethics hearing]]. Because of this, many fans have expressed disappointment when it is revealed in Book 3 that Ines has a girlfriend.

* {{Narm}}: Avid Choices players think the PatientOfTheWeek gets very distracting because many of the portraits are recycled from other stories, even from stories that are still updating (like Willow having [[VisualNovel/AmericasMostEligible Yvette’s face]] despite AME All-Stars still ongoing when Willow appeared).

* SeasonalRot: Many players consider Book 2 to be this because of the excessive focus on Ethan Ramsey over the other love interests and poor plot pacing. Even outside of being love interests, Rafael and Jackie are almost nonexistent, and Bryce only barely more. The new characters introduced - Esme Ortega, June Hirata, and Baz Mirani - are criticized for not being as fully developed as they should be.
** Book 3 is definitely this with Casey and Ethan swapping brains in a sense. Casey has become too perfect and Ethan TookALevelInDumbass, especially in Chapter 8 when he pulls a page out of ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' and has Casey up for some {{UsefulNotes/BDSM}}. It's turned off people who were even going for him from book 1.

** Quite a number of fans want to have a choice to flirt / hook up with Tobias Carrick (and / or having a threesome with him and Ethan) due to the sheer amount of FoeYay he expressed toward Casey. Chapter 11 [[spoiler:where he rushed to Edenbrook and lending Mass Kenmore staff and resource to synthesize a cure for the maitotoxin]] has won over a lot people into this camp. The support for this got bigger in Book 3, where Tobias character is shown in a better light, with many wishing to drop Ethan and take him instead.

* Tobias Carrick became this after. By the time he became a regular character in book 3, many fans who were disappointed by Ethan's character arc wished Tobias could take over the love interest spot from him. By the end of Book 3, many players chose to stay at Edenbrook just to make Tobias the new leader of the diagnostics team.

* AssPull: Many see Raphael's reason to stay in Book 3 as this, since it took him ''less than a month'' to get a Physical Therapist license. According to him this was possible because some of his credits as paramedic overlapped with the required ones for the new job, which is false, as many readers involved with the process pointed out.

** As a career-based story, the ability to choose Casey's gender has sparked some debate. Some players believe Casey should've been exclusively female because women have a tougher time in STEM careers like the medical field than men do, such as underappreciation and exploitation by men. It would also make certain moments in the plot involving white men more emotional, such as Casey's relationship with Ethan that can cause people to question Casey's credibility even more [[spoiler:and Landry sabotaging Casey]]. Other players think the story is already fine with gender options because they point out that men also suffer from discrimination inside the medical environment, like male nurses or LGBT doctors, and genderlocking the book would needlessly alienate players who are more comfortable playing as a male protagonist. They also point out that Male!Casey succeeds not because of prowess, superiority, or other stereotypical masculine traits, but because of the simple desire to help others, which adds a nice touch to his character development.