Determining a child's future and assigning them a reason for existence before they're even conceived is being a terrible, self-obsessed parent.
Planning on having your kid take over and run the family business someday is pretty goddamned common thing for a parent to do. The reason why a baby is conceived has almost nothing to do with whether someone is a good parent. For a lot of kids, the reasoning would be "because I thought his/her mom was a hottie, and I was horny." That doesn't mean their parents are bad, and neither does pushing the kid toward going into the family business.
I don't care if Vic would take a bullet for Steele Jr., because he'd probably just bleed out with an expectant look in his eyes and a shit-eating grin as he assumes it is a given fact that his child will echo his every sentiment and characteristic. It's about Vic's mindset as a father, not his actions. It's about the standards and expectations Steele is held to without their own input. To be so egotistical as to plot out your child's future in every conceivable capacity, and then posthumously enforce that plot through pure assumption and narcissistic momentum, is... disgusting.
This reads like a massive projection entirely based upon your pre-existing dislike of the character. For instance the class choice is entirely the PC's decision. Vic suggests the three options as good ways to learn your way around the galaxy, and the PC obviously has a high enough opinion of him that they stick with them.
Steele's entire life is controlled by Vic, and his obvious, overbearing expectations are present every step of the way. He doesn't even properly explain himself to Steele, but Steele just goes with it. Probably because they were never allowed any kind of self-determination in their entire life up to that point.
I'm not sure how your dad pushing you to develop as a human being and always having advice and suggestions is considered "controlling every facet of your life and never giving you any free will." You are reading what you want to read into these sentence abstracts.
He didn't even tell his child he was going to die. He knew, and he didn't say anything.
Maybe, just maybe he didn't want his impending death hanging over his kid for the best years their life. Maybe he wanted his kid's memories of him to be of the dad that was there for him/her while he/she was growing up, smiling and happy instead of a miserable, rotting hunk of flesh rattling its last attempts at breath. Maybe he had slightly less altruistic reasons for it, but ultimately, passing without warning is hardly the most terrible thing.
Because fuck you and your dreams. You're not allowed to have dreams, you have a shadow to stand in. Even if one day you do cast your own, eerily similar shadow...
Yeah, fuck Dad for giving you a completely restored classic space ship, top of the line technology to inform you and keep you healthy, and giving you a push to see the universe for yourself instead of letting his death propel you into corporate office chair. You couldn't possibly use this opportunity to pursue your own dreams like amassing your own fortune, gathering a harem of your own, meeting some of the galaxy's top scientists, becoming one of the galaxy's best pilots, becoming one of the galaxy's best mercenaries, or just fucking around on New Texas for a couple years. Fuck you, Dad.
And, given everything surrounding Briget and Steele's actual mother, there's at least some evidence to support the idea that Vic was a pretty lackadaisical "show dad" at best, and completely distant at worst. There seems to be a rather large misconception going around that an affluent life is immediately a happy and/or fulfilling life, too...
There's definitely a misconception going around that an affluent life is incapable of producing well-adjusted children. Also, please consider that Briget isn't in the game and that anything Savin has written thus far is subject to edits, changes, or complete removal.
Anyway! To bring us back around on topic (before Fen has a conniption about people saying Tricky Vic was a Bad Daddy):
Or maybe you could make statements that don't subtly denigrate your boss and work to correct misconceptions about a character.
If we had regular mentions of fond memories of Vic, him taking time to care for Steele and actually give them a childhood, I'd be much less judgmental. But we don't have that. Assuming those moments exist without tangible examples is just as flawed as assuming they don't exist.
We have the email (kudos to Savin for that one), as well as a few mentions here and there. I know there's a reference in the Treatment about how much the PC enjoyed going to a resort with his/her dad, for example.
Ultimately, given the nature of the game, there's not a ton of focus on thinking about a dead dad who mostly exists to drive the tutorial section of the game. Most people don't want to dwell on their character's pretend childhood when they can be out fucking about.
In my opinion this sounds better and better.
