Over the last couple of years I've written more than I ever intended on the subject of the Aiden blackmail route. Now I'm about to do so again but having earlier participated in the foregoing discussion & then reading the follow-on, there are various points to consider from many fans. I apologise for not naming everyone in this post but I got back to my PC to find 28 posts to peruse & I would have to keep referring back & forth to do them full justice & sometimes I receive an overall impression & then address key elements, if you see what I mean. It's shorter that way, believe me.
First, I am in the position of approving the twist's removal. After initial doubts I got off the fence, because to include it would have made Dylan not just a needy, scheming, manipulative, misguided & confused person but IMO, a completely moronic idiot. I'm no Dylan fan but even I didn't want that for him. Now from my POV & playthrough, he's on his way to normal teen life with a new girlfriend. [Sophia's "mid-life crisis" did even Dylan ever believe that in the twist? What teenager ever thinks, (or has even heard), about a mid-life crisis anyway? Answer=not very many. Next he would have been thinking about his pension arrangements!?]
Then, without the twist, there's the crucial issue of the original reason that Dylan was picked on by Aiden & co. Again in the playthrough I use, there's no question that this happened & for a realistic reason. There could have been a case for more storytelling around the incident in the early stages of Aiden's plan. On the other hand, it is plausible to me that the school did in relation to Dylan, Zac & the original victims they helped, what is often done in RL regarding bullying, i.e. any of the following......the bare minimum,/ referred to the school's anti-bullying policy, (hereinafter known as 'fine words'),/ blamed the victim(s),/ promised further action after due consideration,/ denied anything serious had occurred,/ denied anything had happened at all,/ said that all details were 'confidential', then did nothing,/ had a talk with the victim's but not the perpetrator's parents or guardians, then did nothing,/ OR, that old standby.....listened to a parent's complaint with convincing, even genuine, empathy....then did nothing.
Finally there's the question of what the blackmail may become "later". It would appear that, despite everything, there's going to be some other kind of "twist" for those, like me, who will continue to play this route, for as long as it lasts that is. Although I'm 95% convinced the tasks will never reach double figures, I deplore the whole concept of it reaching a point where it becomes a mutually pleasurable, tacitly agreed, consensual sex-game. That's not blackmail. AWAM is already quite possibly the most vanilla corruption game out there & IMO, would continue to be so, even if the tasks ratcheted up several notches. Sophia enjoying some aspects of the tasks is not the same. She does this, despite herself & that's how it should stay, IMO.
Bennett has been sidelined. Nobody really thinks he's going to get anywhere meaningful, surely? Now we're seriously facing the prospect of both blackmail routes being terminated, even the possibility of Aiden just being another misunderstood "hard case". Yes, of course, somewhere deep down he probably craves affection but as far as I'm concerned, he can keep that to himself. Who will be the villain after he's 'redeemed'?
All told, I may appear to be in a minority but combined with an atrocious update schedule, "I don't like where this is going".
First, I am in the position of approving the twist's removal. After initial doubts I got off the fence, because to include it would have made Dylan not just a needy, scheming, manipulative, misguided & confused person but IMO, a completely moronic idiot. I'm no Dylan fan but even I didn't want that for him. Now from my POV & playthrough, he's on his way to normal teen life with a new girlfriend. [Sophia's "mid-life crisis" did even Dylan ever believe that in the twist? What teenager ever thinks, (or has even heard), about a mid-life crisis anyway? Answer=not very many. Next he would have been thinking about his pension arrangements!?]
Then, without the twist, there's the crucial issue of the original reason that Dylan was picked on by Aiden & co. Again in the playthrough I use, there's no question that this happened & for a realistic reason. There could have been a case for more storytelling around the incident in the early stages of Aiden's plan. On the other hand, it is plausible to me that the school did in relation to Dylan, Zac & the original victims they helped, what is often done in RL regarding bullying, i.e. any of the following......the bare minimum,/ referred to the school's anti-bullying policy, (hereinafter known as 'fine words'),/ blamed the victim(s),/ promised further action after due consideration,/ denied anything serious had occurred,/ denied anything had happened at all,/ said that all details were 'confidential', then did nothing,/ had a talk with the victim's but not the perpetrator's parents or guardians, then did nothing,/ OR, that old standby.....listened to a parent's complaint with convincing, even genuine, empathy....then did nothing.
Finally there's the question of what the blackmail may become "later". It would appear that, despite everything, there's going to be some other kind of "twist" for those, like me, who will continue to play this route, for as long as it lasts that is. Although I'm 95% convinced the tasks will never reach double figures, I deplore the whole concept of it reaching a point where it becomes a mutually pleasurable, tacitly agreed, consensual sex-game. That's not blackmail. AWAM is already quite possibly the most vanilla corruption game out there & IMO, would continue to be so, even if the tasks ratcheted up several notches. Sophia enjoying some aspects of the tasks is not the same. She does this, despite herself & that's how it should stay, IMO.
Bennett has been sidelined. Nobody really thinks he's going to get anywhere meaningful, surely? Now we're seriously facing the prospect of both blackmail routes being terminated, even the possibility of Aiden just being another misunderstood "hard case". Yes, of course, somewhere deep down he probably craves affection but as far as I'm concerned, he can keep that to himself. Who will be the villain after he's 'redeemed'?
All told, I may appear to be in a minority but combined with an atrocious update schedule, "I don't like where this is going".
