Hard agree. The first time I played through the game I was left feeling a bit hollow about it. On replay I realised why - Jackie and Misty were the only characters in the game that I liked. I missed them.

Was it planned originally to be playable but cut down due to time? Just watching the montage definitely feels lacking and actually playing it out would make your bond with Jackie stronger too, which definitely would play into where they were going with the story.

I always just assumed the “year with Jackie” was one of the things they had to cut.

Started a new playthrough recently for the expansion and spent as much time as I could in the intro.