To replicate:
- Begin game
- Initiate the chain necessary to have Equitia bring you to the bathhouse; do not speak to the Magistrate or anyone else unnecessary or otherwise end a time loop
- Talk to Equitia at the bathhouses until you have the option to reply "Hercules couldn't alter the flow of time"

The protagonist does not know, at this point, that they have any control over time. The dialogue choice about having a golden bow is absent since the protagonist doesn't have it.

I think it would be fairly unlikely most players discover this, but also not impossible.

SImilar to this - are characters supposed to preserve their memory after looping?
I just did my first loop and had the option to discuss a tribute and sneaking in to the guy doing pushups.
I'm also confused about the assassin mechanic - the assassin showed up and I saw a quest for "warn Sentius", after looping I don't have that as an option, my character just told him "I couldn't stop the break from happening"

I just tested this right now and I am certain that you cannot replicate the situation in the OP. Here's why:

1. I could not get Equitia to take me to the bath due to the Assassin "spawned" in the world. This is due to not being able to "kill" the assassin in your first encounter with Fabia - it's impossible as no option exists to have her avoid the temple. Even when the Assassin is walking to the villa or talking to the gladiator - Equitia will never take you to the bath with the Assassin "spawned" in the world where you have not yet looped.
2. The protagonist does indeed know that they are able to loop (via Al's comments, tab-menu quest info, using the portal to travel themselves); however, the protagonist may not know how or when it works, just simply that it's possible. Their comment in the bath seems to be somewhat "cocky" or perhaps more of an expression of us, the players.

So...

Originally posted by ModernStoryteller:

Yep, you got us. Oh well.

...from my testing right now, this situation cannot occur. I think that @ModernStoryteller is safe here, no inconsistency. But, to OP's credit, good job bringing it up to be tested, for sure.

Neither of these are correct. It is possible to have Fabia avoid the temple, and kill the assassin in the first loop. This is not even difficult to do and is even a part of how most people accomplish the Minimalist achievement. I bothered to re-install the game and record a video for you: https://streamable.com/886t5e

The protagonist, in the first loop, does not know that they exist in a time loop. No comments make this clear provided you follow the steps I mentioned in the first post.

The bug is indeed a bug and not a hypothetical, as I mentioned in my post. I agree with the developer, who acknowledged the bug, that it's not a big deal because very few players would manage to trigger it on their first loop, but it is indeed a logical inconsistency. Other logical inconsistencies are dealt with properly with the dialogue options being removed, including as I mentioned the dialogue in the same interaction that related to the bow.

Well, the protagonist came from the future... He used the portal once. In a sense he had already altered the flow of time.

It's hard to get to that stage without learning about the loop or without looping unless you are very knowledgeable already and are avoiding it on purpose. So in a sense, the protagonist, you, player, already knows. :P

The game accounts for replaying without using the loop. When we tell Galerius we don't want to be taken to the magistrate and that we know what we are doing. The protagonist doesn't know what he is doing, it would not be a normal reply in those circumstances! You can take it as extreme arrogance, but I think it's purposeful meta.

But yes, it would be better to have another dialog line before we ever looped. "I am willing to try" or "I can be very persuasive" or whatever.

Yep, you got us. Oh well.