I been thinking that the reason Jean gets hate is because some people take his anger at Harry as a personal attack on them. Because, in a way the player is Harry, you been following this guy for hours, getting to know him, choosing what he says, usually trying to make him be better, so at the end of the game when the player fell he has overcome his faults, getting insults from Jean fell like an unfair aggression, even though it's very much fair. He wasn't there to see him do any of his "self improvement", why would he? He told him to fuck off.
Oh it’s absolutely protagonist blindness. If we see a character’s inner thoughts and insecurities, then it’s just human nature we empathize with them more, and video games turbocharge this bc we’re literally piloting the POV character.
I remember when I first played DE and I took a drink bc the skills told me I should and I wanted to see what would happen. I immediately felt bad, and when it was called out during the second tribunal, I thought to myself “it was just one drink, cmon!!”
But like… that what an alcoholic making excuses would say, and indeed I was an alcoholic making excuses for myself within the narrative. You just gotta see past your own nose sometimes bol