Guys, I'm so sorry in advance for the wall, but I'm animated by some THC-addled nerve-firing: IF we look at our MC through a character-study lens (ignoring the player and focusing purely on the character within Neon's world), then it makes sense to ponder what the different choices say about the MC's personality and how it could even possibly reflect different responses to childhood trauma (this may explain his bad relationship with his mother, if we assume it's not his own doing). Could even explain potential future story beats or why the LIs react the way they do. I'm not a childhood development or personality expert obviously, nor am I a good writer like Neon, and it's probably gonna sound like armchair psychology bs, maybe 'cause it is, but eh I can still have fun poking at the subject with my own (limited
) understanding.
-- Friendship routes: While there are so many potential explanations of this route, both normal and not-so-normal, if we assume the MC isn't simply gay or asexual, and we assume it's motivated by some personality querk or past trauma, it's possible that he has learned an avoidant approach to women (if not to intimate relationships altogether), whether because of his general negative association or because he heavily internalized his own negative treatment (i.e., he's not good enough for any of the women he encounters in his life; he's unlovable; etc.). Possible his mother abused him and set this in motion. Gotta get the drama juices flowing!
-- Romance routes: Well, this route could obviously just represent a normal, well-adjusted successful Guy. Buuut, if we go the more dramatic route, it's possible MC has learned through past experiences with a 'dark-triad' personality type that heavy flattery and placing women's desires at the center of his life helped to stave off negative treatment (whether from SOs or even his own mother) and was often the only source of love from this traumatic relationship or perhaps all of his relationships (the poor bastard). Everybody loves being 'courted', even abusive people! Especially abusive people, even. This probably left him feeling emotionally spent all the time, though. But this perspective happens to have benefited the women around Guy and explains his success with them; feeling like a million bucks with a nice-looking guy who also
has a million bucks is like a Princess fantasy come to life for so many women.
Sources of drama from Guy in the relationship may be struggles that stem from Guy's heavy expenditure of energy towards the happiness of his significant others which can eventually reach a breaking point. The relationship could go too fast even for him, even though he's sometimes the one compulsorily setting the speed limit, and he may respond by backing off. The woman/women in his life would especially feel a sense of disillusionment and rejection.
-- Toxic romance routes: Similar in some respects to the normal romance, but with a twist where Guy uses it as a tool of emotional manipulation in service to his own selfish interests. In this case, he could be a dark-triad, perhaps inherited from his mother. Relationship issues would instead result from him getting bored with the LIs, or perhaps feeling victimized by them (an illusion on Guy's part), and also likely the LIs reacting to his jarring shift between (what seems like) love and devotion intertwined with belittlement and disrespect.
-- Corruption routes: Almost the same as above, except in place of Guy's focus on emotional manipulation is financial manipulation & blackmail (not that they're mutually exclusive, of course). This can probably be considered with the same understanding as toxic romance, just a different flavor. The women aren't going to be under the illusion of a loving relationship here and are instead responding directly to fears (and desires to some extent; a sort of 'pact-with-the-devil' defense mechanism used to internally justify their ongoing abuse).
-- Light-side corruption: I'm not sure this is actually a route (some of Neon's comments and ingame choices seem to hint at it, though), but if it is, then obviously this could just be a well-adjusted horned up version of Guy that doesn't want (or isn't ready for) a serious relationship and happens to have a lot of money to throw at the ladies. Buuut, if we put a drama lens over it, I can think of two possibilities:
1) he's a dark-triad that's found a more mutually beneficial way to satisfy his selfish desires without outright abuse or manipulation; perhaps his mother 'checked' him early on when he went too far, and so he learned to get a little of what he wants while giving her a little of what she wants, without any malice.
2) he's basically a more outgoing and pent-up version of the 'friendship' route with the same avoidance of intimacy, but with an outlet of sex as the closest he can psychologically get to feeling close to a woman without his wall defense surfacing, a need he could actually fuel once he obtained some wealth.
-- Dark routes: Guy seems to have an EXTREME anger and resentment towards women (or maybe people in general). Very likely stricken with some kind of dark-triad, especially if our Guy shows no signs of remorse and seems to enjoy toying with his victims.
But Neon has also potentially opened up, via apologies towards Nicky & Ashe (which may not be genuine, but it's interesting to assume they are), another interpretation where Guy actually
can feel some level of guilt, albeit in a disturbing and fucked up light. In this case, Guy probably wouldn't be a psychopath or a machiavellian, but he does lash out at women violently and then finds ways to justify it so he doesn't have to confront his own wrongdoing; probably an extreme narcissist. Contradictorily, he may even have a distaste for other abusers. This is because he understands right and wrong, maybe even has some semblance of a moral conscience, yet is constantly projecting his own twisted selfish perceptions onto everything he does and everyone he interacts with. We don't know much about his father, so it's also possible he witnessed the abuse of his mother in which case he had a defense mechanism to mirror. Again, it's also possible his father or mother themselves abused him, which would only amplify this anger and resentment.
All of this sort of falls apart when you consider the fact that the player can choose wildly different routes for different women. But, I'll just chalk this up to a sacrifice on the part of the author's sanity towards the benefit of more player choice
. After all, the player isn't playing from what they think the character Guy should do, but from what they want to do at any given moment. Thx for attending my TED talk, etc.
PS: if anywhere in this wall it sounds like I know what I'm talking about, remember this: I do not.