It's one thing to start with archetypes and build a character from there, in fact one of my favorite novels used Jungian archetypes, but the author built upon that base and thereby created some very memorable characters.
DPC's villains are one trick ponys, while his other characters are more fully drawn. It's obvious he CAN create characters, he just doesn't always do it and I think that's one of the biggest weaknesses in his writing.
I don't think it's a problem that there are no strong villains right now.
The most present "villain" is Tybalt, but there can be no doubt he is, as you said, presented as the buffoon.
While Tybalt may have made life a little difficult for the mc, every one of his scenes is more focused on laughing at him than anything else. The music is perpetually foolish whenever he is on the scene, his dialogue is clueless, his goals are fruitless.
The blackmail scene, while it riled a few people up here, was a big joke. He sat there slobbering away on his watermelon (not
the watermelon, mind you), and even offered it to Jill.
The entire joke of the watermelon, Jill's underwear and the photo cannot possibly be taken seriously; he's meant to be an idiot.
He's missed every social cue from Jill, and he's oblivious that the other preps are even venting their disdain for him to the very man he despises (the mc himself!)
The resolution to his big evil blackmail was for Jill to simply stand up to him, tell him exactly how she felt, and he was left in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever.
I don't really need Tybalt to evolve into anything more.
Onto the other main "villain" who is not lurking in the shadows - Maya's dad, Patrick.
Patrick isn't important. He is simply Maya's foil to present her struggles in life. If not her dad, then society would be judging and restricting her.
While we may have discussed otherwise on this board, within the game there has been no mention of trying to reason with the dad. The solution is always Maya circumventing him, in which case, he as a person is of no importance, it's only Maya's solution that matters, which is fine, because the game wants to focus on Maya, not her dad.
Do we need a happily ever after moment with Maya and her dad, where he grows into a person and ceases to be a blatant stereotype? I don't think so. I would prefer that effort be reserved and spent on something like a scene with Maya blowing the mc while Josy gives him a rim job. Now that's a happy ending...
Now it hasn't been established yet that Burke is a threat to the mc, but he is hated among this thread, probably because he is married to Jade, neglects her and looks elsewhere for sex.
His involvement in the nefarious college activities (namely Quinn's restaurant) also puts him out there as a potential bad dude, but already, the mc is fucking his wife.
Burke is established as a week, beaten down character, married to a much stronger force, Jade. He grovels to his wife as she belittles him for his lack of personal achievement in life, strikes out consistently with Bella and is basically an embarrassment; the mc is already fucking his wife!
He is not "The Villain" of this game, but he may become a hindrance at some point in time.
Now Chad was a villain for only moments and has already fizzled out once his title of the Alpha President was taken from him.
Chad was then replaced in the villain department by Dawe who has already been emasculated by pretty much every DIK in the game, and can only assert his dominance by sucker punching people (Tommy, Jamie & the mc).
Dawe is literally so stupid even his moronic girlfriend Arieth can destroy him on Rooster. He is mostly set up to be mocked.
Once again, while he can be a pain in the ass, Dawe is not to be taken seriously.
So it is still possible we have one major villain hiding in the shadows, namely Vinny, and the last look we had of him, selling drugs to Tommy, makes him look quite serious. Has he been causing strife in the background, manipulating things and misdirecting the blame? Time will tell, but that's exactly what I expect.
My feeling is, up until now we didn't need a compelling villain, so these cartoon caricatures have served as entertaining fodder for the mc to cuck (Burke), humiliate (Dawe with everything that is said and done to him), and ultimately witness the destruction of (Tybaly when Jill unleashes).
We are only at the half way mark, it's mostly been about the MC and his friends. The dramas along the way exist to showcase the main characters, and to give us a feel for who the mc is.
I'm not sure if DPC is capable (given his choice of narrative style) of propelling this game into something more thrilling for the second half, or if we'll just continue to deal with bite sized conflicts, and the mc and his friends will graduate mostly unscathed.
But now, as we move into the second half, after the mc has made his choice as to who he wants to get serious with, the game is likely to take turn in a more serious direction. More serious relationship with his chosen girl. More serious drama when Vinnie steps up his game. And more serious stakes to make the story more compelling.
