I agree with what you wrote, but I think the solution was actually much simpler.
the scene in the DIKs library lacks balance because the whole drama is MC's charge, his speech only solves the problem between the girls, in that moment it would have been necessary for the girls to show how much they cared about MC, to apologize to him for the lies and omissions that had been there up to that moment, that it was a dramatic moment for them as well towards MC, instead it is not so (the only "dramatic" reaction they have if they refuse his proposal ...)
everyone forgives each other, but in the end they are a couple and MC is alone, there is no balance.
this would not have resolved the "hatred" of the players towards Maya and Josy, but at least it would have made sense that Mc remained friends
I agree that a proper apology to the MC was necessary, but not that only the MC should end up alone if the friendship path is chosen.
All 3 of them have feelings for each other and M&J had just gone through the most tumultuous time whereby they each developed feelings for a guy, which was especially significant in Maya's case. Why then M&J just forgive, forget, and get back together so easily is baffling and, as I've said many time before, a better solution would have been that they all remain friends with none of them being in any kind of formal relationship with the other so they can have time to figure things out.
This is what should have been the automatic option on the DIK path where instead of being flat-out rejected for reasons that seem completely nonsensical, they would all essentially "take a break" from each other to figure things out and be allowed to try and repair the damage with individual scenes where the MC, and the player, could get a better sense of what these girls are and were going through and why they did what they did.
Yes, but do they? I take your point about the scene, but I have to ask. Does Maya or Josey really care for the MC?
Yes. Josy was prepared to dump Maya for the MC as per their conversation on the phone before she arrived and Maya was also ready to take that same step just before showed up. Josy also tells the MC during their date at her house that he's not simply there, "because I'm lonely", and Maya's inner dialogue after the cum-petition makes it clear that his very presences is making her fell something very deeply for him.
Even on the rejected path they make it clear that do care for him and that they were simply scared to admit it as they were concerned he might not feel the same and/or they'd damage the recently repaired relationship with their other half.
Let me ask it this way, would Josey ever choose the MC over Maya, or would Maya ever choose MC over Josey? Obviously they would not. So the question is, would the MC be satisfied with a relationship where he was always second?
Again, yes. They were both going to do that in Ep 4 but the forced and coincidental meeting in Maya's dorm allowed them to reconcile a little bit and essentially calm that down, but had that not happened then they very well likely would have each committed to the MC and that would have led to a whole different level of drama.
Well, we did. But it's water under the bridge now. If Episode 6 finally goes back to finish up the corner (and maybe sand down the worst of the footprints while it's at it), at least we might finally be able to move on.
The problem here is that, for a lot of people, the dye has already been cast and so to try and correct the record now isn't going to change the minds of these people. You have to get it right in the first go because if you have to go back and correct it later, then that means you made a mistake.
