Ok I'll try to bullet-point this so it's easier to follow
- I say the M.C is weak-willed because, for the majority of the game, he simply goes along with whatever is suggested to him, even though Laurie is his first thrall, it still feels like she has too much say in what he does, while I respect him wanting to keep their mutual friendship alive, it should at least be treated as more of a contract than it is in my opinion.
- As for the outcome of Laurie, through whatever stupid/uneducated choices I made she did not make it through the cave encounter, which I thought given the previous dialogues about clinging to Sharon would at least prevent that, but I guess given Sharon's clear lack of pretty much everything (I.E she still comes across as 'uneducated' as a newly sired vamp) she simply loses focus and lets members of her party suffer (yes I'm aware she feels bad for it, but it's simply too little too late to try to endear her to me.
- With reference to the cave, obviously with the mc being the youngest sired vamp, means that the others simply refuse to believe in his 'visions' and simply choose to ignore all of his warnings (of which there were many) Since even despite warning everyone to stay out of the water nobody listens to him, and they have the audacity to say he's the uneducated one.
- As for your final point with regards to the unseating of an archon and thwarting a plot against the group, as I feel sure I mentioned, I quit the game out of frustration mostly when the outcome of the cave battle was apparent to me, not that I didn't want Laurie to sired (just not by Sharon!) I wanted it to be me if anyone had to do it, maybe that's on me for expecting that to be the case.
The above is just my (maybe slightly biased) views on the game from the way I played, if there are different outcomes for the final scene then I'd love to know so I can at least go through and try to find them all.
RE: Bullet point 4
While I'm sure that the thwarting and dethroning you mentioned do indeed convey prudence, cunning and planning, they were not evident before that scene, which kind of saddens me because it's been 3 and a bit episodes where the mc hasn't really grown much, his most growth was in the last half an episode and it feels wrong or rushed (at least to me)
The events that transpired (of which I've hidden behind a spoiler just in case), I'm hoping they are just a result of my poor choices and not how the game was supposed to go, because if that was supposed to happen, it's definitely not what I would consider being a good choice in my opinion
I do hope my points and reasoning make sense to you or someone at least