Okay, but like.. The dark path was never "justified." It was always Guy having a gross overreaction to a mostly reasonable ask: "Hey, can you please give me 0.0004 of your net worth, so a loan shark doesn't cut my hands off?" The idea that Nicki needed to be unsympathetic/distant, in order for the dark path to work, just doesn't hold water for me. Besides, where was this energy with Viola or Ashe?
As others have mentioned, this isn't a question of objective moral justification, it's a subjective pretext the MC can use within his own mind to 'justify' blaming the victim for their abuse at his hands. "Rationalized" would probably have been a better word, but the point stands.
In the original version, while Nicki wasn't a particularly close friend, it was clear that she was one of the few people in the MC's day-to-day life that he respected. So when Nicki does something to undermine that respect (namely, flirt with him at Brent's request in the hope of borrowing some money), it makes a level of sense that the MC could potentially react very, very badly. In essence, he would feel infuriated that she suckered him all these years, and thus seize the opportunity to take his anger out on her directly - and in the process develop a taste for that kind of thing.
In the new version, not only is Nicki explicitly identified as *THE* one person the MC respects, she then goes on to prove herself entirely worthy of that respect when she blindly lucks into his generosity and refuses to take advantage of it. Moreover, she will vigorously
defend herself if he tries to verbally pin any blame for his anger on her, effectively uprooting the previous rationale before it can even begin.
The end result, as others have said, is a situation where it's unclear why a "limp noodle" MC who simped after Nicki for years would ever decide to abuse her simply because he's now rich enough to hire a lawyer. For Pete's sake, Nicki is throwing herself at the MC in the new version! He should be too busy making out with her to flaunt his wealth! Personally, I feel like a deeply insecure MC should be taking his anger out on
Brent, who not only actually deserves some of that anger, but who is easily vulnerable to the resources the MC can now bring to bear.
If the MC's 'righteous' retribution against Brent compelled Nicki to intervene on Brent's behalf and THAT was what caused the initial rift between the MC and his BFF, I think it could have worked, especially after Brent goes on to reward Nicki's efforts by swindling her yet again. At that point, the MC could see it as a twisted sort of tough love, trying to beat the misguided kindness out of her (and by extension all the other characters he will go on to meet).
I think the new dark path works better because it's not Guy going all-in on evil, right away. It's the first step on his journey to realizing that he's above reproach or consequences. And if you want justification in a character-based way, look at the actions that lead there. It requires you to be cocky/superior, and behave like a bit of a dickhead and misogynist, for the dark path to even be unlocked.
I think the problem with this approach is that it's effectively slowing down the game progression in what was supposed to be a drop in replacement for the original Chapter 1. The MC's actions against Ashe in Chapter 2 will need to be toned down to match his gentler slippery slope, which in turn drops the pace when he meets Gabby, Brittani and Viola, etc.
The MC's rise to wealth was supposed to be his backstory, the inciting incident that explains why the MC could go in so many different directions once the game starts. Now it's merely a facet in the MC's pre-defined psyche and the inciting incident is apparently when the MC decides to hire Lane as his lawyer (which largely happens off-screen). I find that change concerning, particularly if you weren't even aware of the implications when you were writing it.
In my mind, the dark path Guy was probably always a bit of a creep, but his creep tendencies were held in check by his self-loathing and insecurity. Like, how many "nice guys" are harboring a dark side, which they never really show to anyone? When Guy's suddenly given money and the ability to act on his fantasies, he does so not because they suddenly manifested, but because they were always there, and an opportunity presented itself.
I think that's a gross oversimplification. The MC may have had the
potential to fantasize all sorts of dark things, but that doesn't mean the MC was
actually fantasizing about them during those ten years. To me, that's the crucial question that we, the player, should be answering through our choices: what sort of person IS the MC? Getting hung up on precisely when the MC became that person - or worse yet, insisting that the MC can only ever be a single type of person - is short-circuiting the key gameplay element in this game.
As for ghosting Nicki, I still don't see why this is something people keep getting hung up on. It's pretty explicitly spelled out that he did it for a bad reason (busy, exhausted, and worried about changing their friendship), and he acknowledges it as dumb in hindsight. Guy (especially at this point) is a giant ball of neuroses, and he doesn't always make great decisions.
People keep bringing it up because it's badly written. The revised MC and Nicki are way too close for Nicki to accept being ghosted for a full month -
*especially* when she's explicitly worried about the MC feeling suicidal in the wake of the robbery! She would have beaten down his door within a couple hours of him going silent! But that would have required her to learn about his wealth, so instead she somehow ignores the problem until she needs a hug after her boyfriend tries to pimp her out.
Why would a deeply insecure person who has a crush on someone suddenly begin to flaunt their wealth before said person? I don't know, it is a mystery. Like everyone always says, money doesn't change you.
Really? Isn't the whole point of your new narrative that the MC will stop acting like a "limp noodle" once he has the resources to improve his life? That's an awfully fine line to draw, a bit like saying bullets don't kill people, it's only the blood loss and organ failure that kill people.
