I gave up on M-L and skipped to Alternate for the same reason. As long as you have the basic jist of the story and characters, you'll be fine. The actual "plot" and conclusion of sub-plots isn't really important since it all get's kinda thrown out anyway.

Knowing who the characters are, is the important part. I never felt like I should go back an finish Muv-Love to get the full story.

Alternate is good, but also fucked up and disturbing. I'm about 60/40 on whether it was worth reading or would rather I hadn't read it at all.

I gave up on M-L and skipped to Alternate for the same reason. As long as you have the basic jist of the story and characters, you'll be fine. The actual "plot" and conclusion of sub-plots isn't really important since it all get's kinda thrown out anyway.

Knowing who the characters are, is the important part. I never felt like I should go back an finish Muv-Love to get the full story.

Alternate good, but also fucked up and disturbing. I'm about 60/40 on whether it was worth reading or would rather I hadn't read it at all.