People say that Merula is JC's favorite, when in reality, they probably don't like her at all. Like, if a character you're writing is your favorite, you would do everything you can to give them a great arc, not using her as the villian for everything.
I completely agree with you. Jam City doesn't love Merula, she uses her.
One thing they succeeded, they created an emblematic character. Merula draws attention and that's why she has so much focus on the script. A lot of people love Merula, a lot of people hate her too, but everyone comes up to talk about her, whether it's well or badly. Jam City loves all the attention Merula gets, so they use her. And the game keeps moving.
You and I, like many here, have already seen that many things could be done for Merula's development to be good. They insert the fear that the character feels, the duality of good and evil, the mysteries that she is involved in, the regret that the character feels for the things she has done, but all in a very superficial way. That's the hallmark of Jam City, they throw out good ideas but don't work on them.
They leave Merula forever on the fence so they can use her as a villain in SQ. And that makes it obvious that many people end up hating Merula unnecessarily.
This game that became a Side Quests game and they always use Merula and Ismelda as villains, as if there weren't other characters to explore, other narratives. And the justification of the early years for me is not an excuse.
That's why sometimes Merula's presence is exhausting and people end up mistaking it as Jam City's favoritism for her. It's not about being a favourite, it's about being an easy-to-use and attention-grabbing instrument!
If Merula had a good development, it would probably be less hated. That's it, who loves, cares, it's not Jam City's case.
SPOILER OF DATAMINE FUTURE CHAPTERS
I think this redemption they made for her was horrible. Very superficial the way she breaks the vow, it is simply "oh I like Khanna Circle, Khanna Circle is my family" in a poorly crafted way, as Merula somehow betrayed the Circle, even if it was for a plausible reason. Okay, Merula has been helping the Circle, but she also put people in the Circle at risk to save her life and that's why she's suffering, crying. But how did she make that decision? How did she go from seeing herself as a Snyde to taking on a new family? This would need to be better written. It could be deep and dramatic. And I don't think it would be impossible, even with the limits of the chapter text. Jam City has done this before with Merula.
It's another reason why many hate her. Jam City raises redemption but doesn't work redemption 🤡 it's pretty hard.