The problem is that its hard to get emotionally invested in actions/characters when we as players may not have chosen them. Some of the LI's are being pushed on us by the MC's actions that we don't have control over. This is a design flaw brought on by DPCs need to follow the story line. I realize he has a end game in mind but we don't know it.
All grand quest type storylines have an end game. All of our goals so far have been immediate. Become a DIK? Got it. Help Maya join the HOT's? Working on it. Without having a finish line in mind we have no clue what the overall intent of this game is. It cant be to become an engineer like the MC wants because that would actually be self defeating as far as the LI's go. An engineer degree takes 4 years to get at the basic level. Sage and Jill at a minimum wont be at B&R in 4 years. So what are we doing all this for? Your mention of the Quinn scenario only works if we want to help Quinn. The fact that she isn't even an LI makes it potentially problematic because we have no reason to save her. We could save all the LI's and be like fuck Quinn.
I don't think that entirely makes sense: you have the option of opting out of the 'storyline' relationship in Episode 5. And no, the quinn scenario has nothing to do with helping Quinn. I think you are not seeing how this game is setting up it's plot crescendo very well, so I guess I'll explain what I see (which appears to be what others in this thread see as well)
Tommy and Quinn have been buying and distributing drugs. Quinn started her little 'restaurant' to in part pay for that, and in part because the girls are her dealers (note a comment to Tommy about Riona using her own stock instead of selling it). Maya has been very clear that she doesn't think she can afford school without this 'HOT free tuition' thing which is a rumor resulting from some of the girls making money via Quinn's scheme - it's clear she believes her family will not support her or pay for her to attend after her conversation with Derek. This has been getting set up for a while, including via a dialogue option of letting the MC warn Maya about it, but his warning is quite vague and she clearly did not pay attention.
What is pretty clearly going to happen in the future is that Maya, because she is desperate, is going to be Quinn's target as their desperation increases. She will try to rope her into this scheme to replace Camila (who we find out at the end of Ep 5 wants out, because Mona chose not to participate). If she's antagonistic with the MC, there's also a spite element there. This will put Maya in a position where is pressured and possibly agrees to participate, which may cause her to get embroiled as the scheme falls apart - possibly even set up or allowed to take the fall (with drugs in her possession, or even the prostitution element). This situation will be bad for a bunch of characters: Maya obviously, and consequently Derek and Josy (all of whom are MC's friends even if he's not in the throuple), as well as Sage (who is facing some sort of potential internal coup from Melanie, Heather and Sarah, which you can see if you do the final Ep 5 scene with Sage and make out with her; this scene makes it clear that Melanie is the girl screwing Chad, and that they plan to use MC to take Sage down; Sarah's involved with Quinn's scheme, whereas Sage is oblivious to it). Really the only major characters in the game who ARENT potentially involved in that scheme are Jill and Isabella, and if MCs friends are getting caught up in bad news, that could easily introduce a major friction point between Jill and MC (eg that she can't associate with people who might do that kind of thing).
That axis of conflict is going to be how the game eventually resolves. MC will be drawn into it because all his friends are (MC would have to turn his back on all of Maya, Josy and Derek, to say nothing of Sage, which is just exceptionally unlikely), and further is clearly going to at least have the option of becoming a leadership figure within the DIKs (given the speech at the end of Ep 5). It's not even unrealistic that Rusty could resign or quit (or be forced to resign) and a DIK power struggle between Tommy and MC emerges around the same axis of the drug deal (with which frat members are supportive varying depending on the MC's decisions and hell-week performances, for example).
I'm sure there will be some surprises and twists, but major plot lines like this are plotted well in advance, and I think it's pretty clear what the setting is going to be for the next several episodes at the very least. Depending on what the creator wants, that could be the central plot of the remaining 3 episodes of Season 2, or Season 2 could end with the cliffhanger that makes it all obvious (eg Maya getting in trouble, just like the Maya/Josy was the end of season 1 cliffhanger reveal), and Ep 3 be focused on helping extract or save her from the situation.
Quinn is the -antagonist- in this game. I doubt there will be a path where you can 'save' her from anything. And her scheme is a threat in some way to basically every named character in the game who isn't part of it and isn't Jill/Isabella, but especially and most acutely, Maya, who is very clearly the central non-player character in this game, having been involved with basically every element of the storyline to this point.
