I understand where you come from, in my case I had the Ch3.5 version for a long time in my waiting list before playing it, and remembered the next day Ch4 was out, so it was fresh, I see the difference of quality between Ch3.5 and Ch4, while I see the similitude between Ch4 and the revamped Ch1, but I didn't have time to 'digest' it for a while like most people here probably did, and I suppose it must've been a shock.
For example, I've seen some 'Tier lists' of the girls, where Victoria almost always was at the bottom, I suppose if Ocean does it right, he may actually salvage her to some extent.
As for the MC, I often read elsewhere that he was nicknamed 'edgelord' for a reason, I understood the first time I played, but I get why he was distinct cause of that. Fortunately he still is, just less extreme.