No not really downgraded really - he featured more at the start but its was hardly comparable scenes as these singular Hunter events end up more often than not these days with full NTR animated scenes with the old bastard having his way with the girls in question. Would NTR lovers prefer that or just more scenes with him in general trying and only getting as far as groping?
He does make the game a bit funnier i do confess but at same time as the story and the characters have developed hes not as essential for adding comedy as we now can showcase the girls themselves in the humour such as Catherine aggressive flailing orgasms, the boeing airplane level noise that comes from Eva romps, Ophellia and her lactating tits and so on and even cucking fat boy Kevin etc. He featured heavily in the last update so personally would not mind if he is indeed only featured in the one event for this one as often him being around is less MC getting further with a girl and instead more stopping him from getting so instead.
Yea the scenes might be more longer/complex now than before. Well i am not a fan of NTR so i dunno, i do like more scenes where him and the MC duke it out, i dunno it's the funniest part of the game for me personally.
I think the girls are OK, Catherine tends to be a hit and a miss for me it depends, I don't wanna offend anyone but she like rides that line between being just kinda dumb and "autistic/mentally challenged" and that creeps me out more than it makes it funny for me at times, i dunno... What i am saying is, i am kinda enjoying Hunter as the antagonist, i think he overall makes the story richer, makes the choices more risky... I do enjoy that element of danger, him basically being an obstacle for the main character, even though canonically he fails all the time, it brings on more interesting elements to the story. Cause without him, the humor would tank quite a lot IMO and there would be no main antagonist which i kinda wish these types of games feature more and more tbh.. Just my personal opinion i guess.