That's one of the game problem in general: the game doesn't let you play someone witty, or else Corpo V wouldn't even have been fired from Arasaka to begins with.
Quote so. It would've meant fleshing out the life paths even more with the potential for the corpo one to stay in them. E.g. by calling Abernathy and ratting Jenkins out. Or the confrontation ending differently, like you cooperating and getting a notable fall from grace without being killed or thrown out, like you own Abernathy for the mercy and got a new master and superior. That pressure can work as motivation as well. A cut-throat world without literal cut-throat. Jenkins says it himself, putting the gun to the head but not pulling the trigger.
I feel you can still offer a "rags to riches" story without having been kicked to the streets with nothing left.
I really don't mean to demonize the current life paths, the base idea is good, but from a critical standpoint they seem a bit like "window dressing". Different game start, mostly different dialogues that not always drastically change an outcome and are more so for fluff (which isn't bad per sé) and then maybe a few unique but limited tie-ins of characters from the prologue.
Not counting dialogue and it's influence (or lack there-of, e.g. using the corpo line while going to the manson didn't do anything notable, it's a different step to the same outcome, still gotta fight), in essence I got one cameo: The old spec ops / sabotage pal who came from the operation in Africa - this time he wants to kill me for whatever weird reason thinking he can gain redemption. From an in-lore or in-game perspective you can label this fitting. Heck, okay, maybe it is in the thinking of the character. But we're still players playing a game.
From the consumer or player perspective, you in essence have life paths as fluff element at their core. The idea isn't bad, I just feel with more time and resources, life paths could've been vastly more impactful or deeper, even dynamic in their outcomes. And they all could still die in to the main plot in their own ways, while changing how you get tied in accordingly.
V streetkid could be in a gang and pull of this heist. Nomad V... well, I dunno, not much Nomad experience. Corpo V doesn't necessarily have to end up in the streets. In fact, the corpo life path would offer a unique twist even to the chip, e.g. internal power struggles and corporate f'ckery. At my pro Arasaka ending it was implied anyway, a mini civil-war of sorts. Could've been the theme throughout the corpo life path as well.
If I think about it more, with more time, the life paths could've been their own game almost. This would give them the most meaning and the game the most replayability value. Corpo V not super rich but still struggling in a corporate world. Streetkid V seeing it from the rough streets angle, trying to get in the major leagues where corpo V might be more or less, but has more trouble surviving in them. Nomad V might see, I dunno, a more mad max style approach in the badlands and feel like a stranger in the city.
And all, despite their uniqueness, still eventually tie in to the main plot somehow, in their own ways.
Now that would be powerful and truly unique life paths.
