Is not that it is a bad idea, I can see your reasoning, just seems too much work to something that I don't see a necessity, but it is as you said, no one can really tell. I think that here we just disagree. If Ocean is changing the story because he hit a roadblock it makes me lose respect for him - not that he needed it in the first place- but it makes me way,way,way less invested in the stories he is telling. Not because is cutting fetishes but because it tells me Ocean is lost as to where the story is going, I understand it being a work in progress but that can not justified altering the scripts every two updates. Especially to a story that was already written and had a remake not that long ago. Is not a isolated fact, Ocean does has a track record with it, WiaB suffered a remake and 4 chapters in its remake suffered another big change, how can I be invested in it if I don't know what might change until the season 1 ends ?As a plot point, who can say it wasn't there before? We simply don't know the connections. It might be a simple thing to write that way - in any case it was more a speculative comment than a desire to see this as a plot point. There are so many available plots that can make sense and make an engaging game that will fit. I don't believe a writer who has a vivid imagination can ever write themselves into an impossible corner. The problems are usually what things they hold onto that prevent them moving forward. The current situation is how to change the story, while keeping it the same. That IS impossible. So what Ocean's doing is sensible, take the deep breath, rip off the band aid. He did it before when the game was good but inconsistent and he realised he couldn't just re-render to make it what he wanted it to be. The changes now are things he doesn't probably want, but if he has found the story it can evolve into, that is better than just cutting troublesome content. Evolving it into something better that gets more attention and is has less problems is a great outcome. I'd rather he explored intruiging ideas than Ocean writing a neutered game just to get it out. Because we're still early in the game(s), changes now will mean a minimum of changes in direction in the long term. No guarantees, but the foundation is still being established - the first version didn't really have a solid foundation.
The fundamentals of the story are: scion returns to his hometown because of problems. He has conflicting issues with all the people from his past. There seems to be some sort of hidden business involving his sister. None of that has changed. The antagonist was never revealled properly, so the reveal is meant to be a surprise. All we need are plausible explanations for these events that have minimal alterations to the current script. For example, no one batted an eye over Monica's new backstory. It was so far in advance of her character from the original. Leia's empire was something that didn't really exist for most of the old game, we had no idea until the diner. Leia's personality is so much better, as is Dana's, and obviously Miru. Helen has no personality in either version yet. Katie's kept her larger than life personality. Kat's already more detailed than before, Zoey's no longer just a party girl hanging on Katie's arm, Gina's kinda in the same spot. Dylan's developed a personality beyond an awkward generic hairstyle with muscles. The negatives are far outshone by the positives. Well, except for Helen's body, and Leia's physical bimbofication.
So however Ocean manages the change, hopefully it should be integrated to the story rather than a bandaid applied. He is proven capable of writing better characters with better backstories, he's written increasingly better personalities as he's gone along. So the changes now aren't a problem, so much as how to integrate them into the preceding three chapters. And that is why this update isn't just the render count of the new chapter and new animations. He knows it has to hit steam and capture attention, as he needs it to start it's own ball rolling, after what happened with patreon.
That is if the reasoning is because he hit a roadblock. If the reasoning is ToS, money and outside forces, while it still being problematic I can perfectly understand it . Sometimes have constrains can even be good to the story. If to tell the story in the first place William can not be related to the entire cast. Fine, I don't really care. If in doing so it allows some of the romance paths to flow more naturally. All the better. If it allows the game to be more successful and Ocean makes more money. By the grace of God do it. What worry me is less the change and more what motivated it. Ocean is talented at written character and their interactions, I think that this change can elevate the story as you said, but it needs solid foundation.
