Yes, it's a 'A Wife & Her Son,' AWAHS, or as I think of it now, DATBO, 'Dylan And The Bloated One,' or DATMJ, 'Dylan And The Milk Jugs...(ref. L&P). It's been publicly stated, by the Dev, that Dylan's appearances will be brought up to par with Sophia's, because apparently there's not enough of him so far. He's been an official "2nd MC" for several years, (which is a contradiction in terms), yet there's still no male protagonist tag, nor does the promo blurb make clear that this game is as much about the adventures of a teenage virgin schoolboy, as it is about his mother. All we can be certain of is that Dylan can never be "a wife & mother," unless he undergoes some drastic & painful surgery. He can certainly dominate the whole game, as he's doing at present. AWAM is so well-known that it would be detrimental for the Dev to retitle the game officially.
First of all, I think some here should realize that AWAM is not a game about Sophia alone, but a game about Sophia in her role as "A wife and mother". Nowhere does this title specify that all scenes must be depicted from Sophia's perspective.
Telling a story from multiple perspectives is an often-used device. One example is maybe "The Godfather" were not all the scenes in this movie are told from just one perspective. Like in AWAM also in this movie it is not just about one charakter, but about the construct and dynamics in this family. The change of perspective is necessary to show the development of other characters and thus give depth to the story.
Originally it was intended that Liam would feature more prominently & that his POV would be in the nature of a dual game with his wife. His predictable unpopularity caused this plan to be dropped. Predictable, because teenage oedipal M/S incest stories usually contain a son who wants to replace his father, even to the extent of becoming a father himself, to his own brother/son, or sister/daughter. Genetic issues are not usually a problem because the fantasy finishes before the mother goes into labour. Fans don't want a hero of the story to be burdened with responsibilities, especially those that are in no sense erotic. (That's too much like RL, especially if consanguinity were to result in birth defects. That's nobody's idea of good or even average porn).
I think one of L&P's biggest mistakes was wasting time in the good wife path. Not because I dislike Liam as a character, or would like to see Dylan replace him, but because this path is too boring. In the current version of the game, Liam seems like an unnecessary appendage, which I think is a great pity.
I think that a little more liam in the game, apart from the good wife story, would have done quite well. At the latest, if he had noticed something of what was going on between Sophia/Ellie, Sophia/Dylan or Sophia/Sam.
Dylan's popularity in polls must have been at least one reason for the Dev to re-interpret AWAM. ("It's where the market is"). As I've said before, however, even though Dylan's fans form the biggest voting bloc amongst the paying Patrons, (i.e. those fans who matter) doesn't mean that a majority of fans want him to take over. L&P uses the "First past the post" system in polls but the fact that Patrons have more than one vote complicates the outcome.
I think that Dylan and Ellie are doing so well in the polls is because they are such important charakers in the game. The fact that this does not mean that the story is also told from Ellie's perspective is probably because the perspective of one of Sophia's children is sufficient and Dylan also brings in the other gender and thus more variety.
There's nothing intrinsically wrong about broadening a story to contain activities & POVs of other characters. When AWAM started & for the first couple of years, so many people were introduced, it seemed that it wouldn't be constrained by the standard, slightly claustrophobic, incest-driven family of 3D games but this was an illusion. It was easier to bring in new characters than it was to write a coherent story. Dylan's & other character's POVs, along with their stories, would, IMO, be more successful if the roll-out was faster & wasn't restricted by the event-based update strait-jacket.
Yes, I also think that L&P opens too many side stories that have nothing to do with the actual theme of the game. So in my opinion you could delete Aiden (as probably the most unbelievable thug of all times) and especially the two side jobs from the game without really losing anything. The plot here has strayed so far from Sophia in her role as "A wife and mother" that the game is actually just wasting time here and everything is just unnecessarily stretched out rather than really telling a few storylines with depth.
Anyway, the current update is about Dylan and Ellie, and therefore alone a part of the core of the game, because they are both in the family that Sophia is "A wife and mother" of. That is what this game should be much more about and not less.
