Just to get it out of the way, well into the story is exactly when you can easily do diverging paths, as there wont be as much story to do until the end, and really it's about time we get some actual choices outside of which LI to pursue.
Killing Carter isn't the poorly written part, its how it was done that is the problem, many parts of that scene were poorly done,
-first MC's gun should have been out during the fight,
-second Carter says he was expecting the mc to arrive but only brought a knife
third he let go of Emma too easily, and Emma was an important protection for him
how i would have done it:
Carter knifes Zak, does after Emma, he gets to her and grabs her, mc and charlie arrive, Carter taunts the mc, and doesn't let go of Emma, knife to the neck and a pistol at his hip, MC takes out his gun, and points it at Carter, charlie freaks out, MC asks her to trust him,
after this i see two options:
- Mc is a badass and headshots the f***
Option two:
Mc signal's Emma/Emma decides on her own to stomp his feet with her heels, and as soon as she runs he shots him down.
there could also be a lets brawl path but it would have to be better setup
