I was thinking about what is the difference when it comes to the treatment of the crushes in eldarya TO and eldarya NE and the answer is depressing. Itās not only that they changed Lance and Leiftanās personality, but also that we never really got to know anyone out of their work except maybe Mathieu.Ā
In TO we have a bunch of scenes where Erika met with the boys just to have fun or to have casual conversation. They sometimes ate lunch together (Erika even cooked a meal for them once), sometimes they met before missions to study the plan in company, we had casual conversations with them just as we roamed around HQ doing whatever, they played games and had an actual date in chapter 17, she missed them when they were gone because she was used to talk to them, Leiftan bought her a gift during the Huang Hua chapter... Even if she saw them as her friends, you could still get to know your crush and flirt with them if you gave the right answers. All these small things contributed into building a more or less believable romance.Ā
In NE, most of these scenes arenāt with the crushes, but with secondary characters (except maybe Mathieu, who is also in our circle of āfriendsā). We have meetings and play games with secondary characters, when we walk around HQ, we meet and talk with secondary characters. The moments where we get to talk to one of the crushes are scarce. I think the only leisure time where they actually spent time together andĀ āaloneāĀ was during the ball.Ā
It feels like they wanted to make a game with these secondary characters but then remembered this is supposed to be an otome and the players are here to flirt, so they had to add a 2min scene by the end of the chapter where they magically fall in love or kiss for no reason (otome? checkā ). We only get to spend time with them during missions where we canāt really focus on the romantic aspect that much because in these chapters the plot has to move forward, which is exactly what happened this last chapter where Leiftan and Mathieu didnāt even show up. Erika talked more about her feelings for the crush with Huang Chu and Karenn than with her actual partner.
I like the general plot of this season, but in the end even this plot isnāt as good as it could have been, again, due to the lack of bonds between Erika and her partner. If Erika had had a true connection and built romantic interest for her boyfriend (or the other crushes who are her colleagues) during this chapter, their separation would have struck harder, but it feels like she got split from her missions friend who she sometimes kissed.
I donāt have much hope for this aspect of the game, given that Iāve seen people have been complaining about the lack of romance and the little time spent with the crushes for several chapters now and BV is still ignoring everything.
