Yeah, I think you made an excellent point and your right its not a good idea to write an MC people can't identify with.
I think being able to get the audience to react positively to characters they resent is the mark of a good writer, because of how hard it is prevent that from feeling forced. That said I feel like DPC has tried to do just but fell a little short somehow.
I say that because my guess is about 45-60% of the games fanbase either don't feel it is forced or don't care.
I'd say this is more of a byproduct of DPC working alone than anything else. Because working in a vacuum means you have no way of knowing how people from other backgrounds would interpret your work before it goes public.
Now those parts of the game have been released what matters is if DPC can turn it around to make the MC feel like a real person again when interacting with M+J on the rejection/friendship route. which is back to my earlier point of having the MC, at least internally, express conflicting feelings about M+J's relationship
