Im dissapointed the south path is so much worse from a gameplay perspective.
I made 2 runs maximizing possible gains (yes, i minmax even in smutty rpgs, sue me) and found that north path enables you to:
1)learn lockpicking earlier,
2)get the animal farm license
3)get infinite gold from inn, as you can loiter in town forever
4)establish history with returning characters such as beth and charlotte
5)recieve just over double the possible stat gains. (+10 vs +21)
Objectively speaking, in gameplay terms the harder route traditionally yields a better reward for completion. Risk vs reward and all that.
The south path is narratively superior and clearly more story-involved, so it baffles me that its made the decidedly worse choice, where both difficulty *and* rewards are concerned.
Its obvious that it is the more recent addition of the two, as it clearly hasnt been playtested enough.