Seems two different times in the life of the Dev. Before, three years ago, he was darker. A love delusion ? A separation? Who knows. Now seems he is in a good mood and he wants to save Nicky’s character. Probably “Nicky” is an importan person for
NeonGhosts .
I'd say you should probably look at it as just a porn game and not an autobiography lol.. it's already been established that the version everyone was playing was the vanilla patreon version, so the dark stuff is naturally missing there. And if the dark scene in the full version ends up being a little less extreme, and you may have missed the author discuss it, it's because he felt her return would make more sense if the abuse was less violent; I mean, the dark content in the latest chapters are still very, very dark, so it's a little silly all the people worried about him scrubbing the dark stuff.
I think that even good Guy has a speck of darkness inside him he is pushing down so that he can make a positive impact on people's lives. At the same time, even bad Guy has innate goodness that he is turning his back on in his pursuit of personal gratification. A few folks have said that the new chapter one gives less of an impetus for Guy to mistreat Nikki, but I think that it kind of the point. Guy decides to be an asshole because it is an option, not because he has a justification for doing so. He feels agrieved by the world, not by anyone in particular, and takes it out on the girls in this game because he can. In my opinion, neither version of Nikki deserved mistreatment, but as the man once said "Deserve ain't got nothing to do with it." This is a game about power, how to use and misuse it. Power concedes nothing without a demand, and those in power tend to do as they please first and find a rationale later... if they even bother.
100% man. None of the other girls deserve a dark path either, but people still clearly play them; I think it's entirely whatever the player feels like in the moment, or however the player
wants to interpret the LIs, use them as a scapegoat for maybe other women they're reminded of, etc. Nothing wrong with that, and of course maybe these ladies are intended by Neon to be worse than we realize, but, to me, they all feel like normal struggling people just doing the best they can.
If Neon had infinite productivity available to him, I bet playing from the perspective of Nicki or some other LI complete with romance/corruption/dark choices would be an interesting glimpse into not just their characters, but into what I'm pretty sure Neon is trying to convey. I.e., does someone like Ashe choose to use her body and looks to extract what wealth and opportunities she can out of Guy? Or does she try to build a genuine, loving relationship with him? Maybe she does just want to use him, but she's more honest and direct about her intentions and they can reach a more healthy, mutual agreement? Obviously, a genuine interpretation for the LIs needs to be the default for the players behind the MC or else the point of an erotic VN just falls apart, but I think that dynamic of choice and intention is more or less playing out in us all, and I like to imagine it's playing out in the LIs too.
