"I was there, I was molded by it."
I agree with you. My approach would increase your workload than reduce it and personally I prefer customized modifications over simple word swaps because they make the text more authentic.
On the other hand the beauty of the swap method is that you can replace an entire block of code and dialogues and replace it with something else without touching the original files.
Maybe I will use the swap method to merge your patch with Joker's walkthrough mod....

Well, who knows...
EDIT:
Renpy has a load order for files. If I remember correctly RenPy loads rpyc before rpy files. In order to make your patch work players either have to delete their rpyc files and replace them with your modified files or unren their game to use your rpy patch files.