Overall storywise it is better. But individual characterization is a lot worse for the girls that actually got changed. Right now Sarah's story probably got hit the worst as she went from someone secretly in love with her brother to having some kind of downs level mentality and really will fuck you for pokemon cards. No Sasha story, no interesting developments she just lets you molest her. Laura's story went down the same pathway. From a shy girl that has a sexual kink for the MC because he's short to being just some weird Otaku.
Maria's does get better I admit and paints the MCs father as a real asshole. Rachel's improved as well, but I liked her more as the childhood friend that wanted to be a nurse than the troublemaking journalist and one of the friend trio That the other two pick on for being a girl. Then there's his "aunt" who's some kind of....I don't even know. Her story will make more sense but her looks are terrible.
Pam, Nadine, Mrs Turner, etc all have didn't actually change and the one real change was that we ditched the old system of dating and sex to a more "hands off" system so that works for the better.
Structurally the game will work a lot better IMO. The quest hint system is helpful and we actually have replays which was missing from the original. I also don't think the developer is lazy in the slightest. When developing quests for a game it took me dozens of hours to develop just the starter quest area alone and almost as much squashing bugs before playtesting began, only to have it played through in a matter of an hour. How some can actually be able to develop art assets, do what little coding they have to, and layout while also playtesting the stupidly broken bugs, AND get it out in a month, kudos to them.
I share a lot of your opinions and criticisms. I like a revamp a lot, and while the school characters have mostly been untouched (Though I think Carol's got a great improvement, and the interactive threesome with Pam and Nadine is AWESOME) it does seem like Sarah, Amy and Laura haven't gotten much focus. The main story and Maria's story is a lot better though and I'm happy we've gotten a lot of scenes with her. Though I guess the lack of focus would be more towards Amy and Laura and not Sarah, who has had development but mostly as a sidequest with the handful of tinymon card hunting stuff.
My biggest laments with the game are definitely Aunt Maggie's redesign (just my personal opinion, but she is ugly in her new look. Hope she's a villain, I wouldn't mind missing out on nailing her) and that characters like Shasha and Amaria, two very prominent characters in the old version, have gotten nothing so far. Shasha in particular was one of my favorites so I'm really sad about that.
All that said, this game is still my favorite. Not just because the majority of the models are super hot and Beggar is the one of the few content that uses the Klub17 engine, but with how regularly he updates. Save for the odd month or two, he updates monthly and with a generous amount of content. I can't think of any other content creator who does that. Plus this revamp is bug-free, unlike the old one which was full of them.
And while Sarah's characterization hasn't been stellar so far, maybe it'll improve when we finally get focus on her and the quest for tinymon cards stops. That's kinda how it was in the old version too, getting cards (though those hunts were more lengthy and there were fewer in number compared to now) and then short scenes with her up until her questline was focused on and kicked off.
Since a majority of the school characters have gotten their questlines completed/restored (only Beth, Daisy, Lizzy and Ms. Turner have yet to get their content restored, plus the new teachers) in the next few updates we might finally get questline focus on the family, like Sarah, Amy and Laura plus story important characters like Rachel and Tyna. When/if the gang content gets close to being introduced, which might be soon given how little school characters are left, is probably when I'd assume characters who've been out of focus until now will get some attention.
So yeah, the Revamp does get a lot of flak but in the end I think its better off even if that might be a divisive opinion. I might not be a patron of Beggar anymore (though I probably will rejoin once it gets to the point the old version was at) but as a creator I think he stands head and shoulders above some others on this site and I can't wait for the new update to get shared by a hero here on Saturday.