Eldarya, Episode 14, the actual worst part of this entire fucking game.
The writer thought “haha let’s spice things up with a non-consensual kiss” and somehow forgot that SEXUAL ASSAULT is not okay. And if you’re going to introduce the subject to your virtual dating game, you should probably consider the ramifications of such a heavy subject.
Most likely, a huge majority of players will have experienced sexual assault in the past. Doing something like this triggers a lot of terrible memories for a lot of people. But okay, let’s put that aside for a moment and see how they will handle the aftermath...and then this.
They put the burden of moving on Guardienne. FORCING the player to “consider how HE is feeling! HE is feeling SO BAD so I should feel GUILTY for making HIM feel BAD.”
This. Is. ABSOLUTE. TRASH.
We are forced to sit through a dialogue that sympathizes with our abuser.
“It troubles me to see him in such a state.” HE FORCED GARDIENNE INTO A KISS, BUT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO FEEL BAD FOR HIM?!
Why in the ever living FUCK is Gardienne worrying about the FEELINGS of the actual grown adult that sexually assaulted her?
Hang on to your fucking hats because I am NOWHERE near finished with this hot mess. (I know, I stopped doing episode reviews for MCL. I’m not about to start up again with Eldarya. But this is just SO BAD that I couldn’t not. Old School Pretty is revived for a day, and she is full of revenge and anger.)
In addition to “feeling bad about making him feel bad,” we are then forced to take time to see how HE is feeling...yes, please, tell me how my assailant is FEELING about ASSAULTING me.
“Passionately kissed” is not the correct term. The correct term is “sexual assault.” I would settle for “non-consensual kiss” but only just, and only if it were an error of translation.
During his assault, he doesn’t care that she’s just said “no.” Uh-uh. The boy (whomever you chose) thinks about how soft Guardienne’s lips are. Not that she’s struggling, refusing, or opposed. The dialogue focuses on his pleasure in the moment.
I am irate. But don’t worry, it gets worse.
Again, she’s struggling...but...I mean, he doesn’t want to let go...so...we apparently just have to witness that he acknowledges we don’t want it, but does it anyway.
Of course, we should care that he’s feeling bad about assaulting an unwilling person, says the clueless writer.
It just keeps getting worse. “I hope she’ll be level-headed and not get emotional after I forced myself on her.”
Insinuating that if we were to get emotional, we would no longer be keeping a “balanced view” and will be punished for having emotions, which would somehow make Guardienne that villain in this situation.
“Ezarel thinks she’s cute tho, so it’s all good, right?”
This is victim blaming and I’m over it.
Instead of handling this like any sane adult would, they decide to peace out and say “teehee, let him keep his secrets.”
Yes, they wrote that. “Secrets” as in “assaulting someone against their will.”
This game is trash.
So, we are forced to feel conflicted, as there are no dialogue options otherwise, and spill our soul to Leiftan who insists that we should just move forward because “well, I mean, he feels bad about it so...you should just move on.”
So, we have to see him. And he says “I’m sorry, can you forgive me?”
And we don’t get any options. We don’t get to say “no.” We don’t get to punch him in the face. Nothing. We have to say “I’m going to try to forgive you for assaulting me.”
And what does he do? IMMEDIATELY VIOLATES OUR BOUNDARIES, WALKS INTO OUR ROOM, VIOLATES OUR PERSONAL SPACE, AND PRETENDS THAT PRIVACY DOES NOT EXIST. All in an effort to try and make himself feel better.
That isn’t how apologies work. Making Guardienne to the legwork to make HIM feel better makes HIM a SCUMLORD.
It gets even worse. The writer must not live on the planet Earth because the next “plot” is to lump more guilt onto Guardienne for something that isn’t even remotely her fault.
I just can’t even. Why has no one fixed this episode? Why are they letting this go?
They know their target demographic, and they know who will be playing this. They have a chance to show how these delicate and very real situations should be handled. They know that a person has the right to stand up against those who wrong them, and that they should be supported for doing so.
And instead, they railroad a manipulative and disastrous storyline that blames the victim and outright says that any other reaction isn’t “level headed.”
Get the fuck out.
I’m beyond done.
I posted a bit on the forum, but it didn’t really encompass my rage, so I’m here to scream into the void and hope something changes.
Hey is there anywhere else we can follow you?? Ive always loved your blogs and streams
I’m very active on Twitter, and I stream through Twitch on two channels. I’m really bummed about the recent actions from Beemoov, so if my accounts with them disappear, this is the reason.
twitter.com/prettyideal
twitch.tv/prettyideal
twitch.tv/itucrew
I am mostly active in the art and ttrpg communities, but my heart will always belong to fun little romance games. <3
I’ve been distant from this fandom for a while now.
This horrible phrase to justify the abrupt end to our high school relationships is the final nail in the coffin for me. It’s been fun, but I’m honestly glad that I stopped playing around episode 30.
If I had invested time and money into a relationship just to have it poof out of existence after Candy LITERALLY WENT TO BED WITH HIM? Yikes.
All of the drama and moderation from the team about “keep the forums P.G.” and “no adult topics” and “you can’t even mention things like alcohol or smoking” but for shock value they throw up softcore porn? It’s hypocritical and offensive.
Maybe the difference for me is that I’m no longer a “young adult.” I was, back when I started playing this game. At...well now I can’t remember how old I was, but it was definitely around age “21 to 23″. I was young and rude and abrasive and naive. I started a blog that just dragged the entire game, which is probably how I have so many followers right now. But you’ve seen me grow and change, and as I grew up, I also grew out of that judgmental mindset. I’m not that person anymore which is why I deleted my old posts, but I will admit that growing as an adult has changed me. I’m looking at this change at Beemoov through the lens of 1.) a changed person who has admitted their mistakes and 2.) as an adult who knows how a healthy relationship should work.
Beemoov is in a unique position to show young players what a healthy relationship should look like, but they’ve really stepped in it with this move.
I’m just done. These problems with the writing and linear storylines, manipulation tactics by NPCs, and abusive tendencies from the “love interests” that players are meant to just “get over” aren’t just in MCL, either. They extend to Eldarya as well. There are plenty of other games to dedicate your time and money to. At this point, Beemoov is not one of them.
I thought they might redeem themselves after having the last episode of MCL force players into sleeping with their crush if they wanted a nice illustration to end their YEARS-LONG ROMANCE. But they didn’t. Some players just wanted to hug their boy and say goodbye. Why wasn’t there a generic hugging option? Or a high-five? Or just that same hand-holding illustration from Episode 20? They could have just tossed it up again for some sort of closure.
And if they didn’t want to go through the arduous process of coding it, I would settle for a 30-second video on YouTube of the characters saying goodbye in some meaningful way.
Actually, that would still be a great option to try and douse the flames of this trash fire.
Beemoov, please consider some quick options! Go to Episode 40 and add in the “cut-n-paste illustrations” method from Episode 20. Give everyone a free play-through to correct the oversight. Toss up a generic slideshow video of what happened during the four year jump. Write a short story and post it on the forum. ANYTHING. But...
“Out of Sight, Out of Mind?”
No.
I’m just over all of it.
<3 I’m sorry that it has ended this way. If anything changes (which I hope it does), I’ll see ya’ll around.
I saw it that it´s supposed to be 37 of this damn trousers, but I´m not sure. I´m missing one of this so I still don´t know if once I find the missing one I will still find more of different colors or if that is really the last one :v
I think I will be hunting the island for the next couple of days.
@eldarya-no-lorraine, since you´re having the same problem as I am…At the moment I have 36….let´s hope we can find the true quickly :´D
Hello Pretty ideal!:3 I wanted to ask you..what do you think,what should I do in episode 22? Make a deal or not make?>.<
Here are the details:
If you make the deal, you get an illustration with Amber and lose 20 points with Castiel. If you don’t make the deal, you buy the $180 makeup kit which you can end up keeping, unlocking new lipsticks, blushes, and eye shapes for your Candy! Amber comes up with a different solution and you can still go to her house for the night.
If you’re an illustration collector, make the deal! If you’d rather have the new eyes and makeup, don’t make the deal!
Muahahahahhahaa...I probably should have done at least 2% planning. But you know me - I jump in feet first and hope there’s no sharks in the swimming pool.
I’m so sorry.
The blog post explaining this disaster is here: clicketyclick
Pre-register for Eldarya (the English version!) and get your usernames squared away! Remember that the guys/gals will use your username when addressing you, so unless you want the dialogue to look like:
“Hey, 1xxcutieGRL975xx1!”
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