God, I love this so much, but I feel
so conflicted about Elsa. I mean, I like her, and I do think the two of you are genuinely friends, but her perspective on human interaction is just so
rrrgh! Like, sure, you need to be realistic about it to some degree, and her attitude makes all the sense in a capitalistic or political setting (like at a corporation), but the way she doesn't seem to turn it off
ever is just
so frustrating to me for some reason, and the way she MC started doing that shit too is just... I don't even know. Annoying? If he had at least slowly been eased into this attitude-shift by Elsa I would totally get it, but as is, it feels more like he is lashing out and Elsa is just supportive of it? I mean, sure, she'd probably say lashing out is fine, or even good,
if you can do it productively... But man, I can't help but feel he is still being a man-child.
It's weird though, usually the [Corruption] tag doesn't phase me (not that this game has it). I mean, some people exploring their sexuality somehow being corrupt is such a weird perspective to take. But this? This shit Elsa is doing? Fuck, man. I realize that to Elsa it's at least partially about self-improvement (though I'm still not convinced she doesn't get a huge kick out of doing all this), but there's an undercurrent to all this that is just
so fucking sinister. Definitely
feels like corruption, even though Elsa would probably frame it as toughening up (and she wouldn't exactly be wrong).
That being said, I love it, this stuff is all really compelling. But it does bother me that pretty much everyone seems to be a
terrible person in one way or another, and I would really like someone just being completely normal to sort of ease the tension a little between all the scheming.
... And no, I don't mean Zoe. I mentioned it last time too, but from the narrative's perspective Zoe is framed as
too nice and it's only a matter of time before it bites her in the ass; you bet your ass Elsa's "she's sweet" comment was meant as ominous. Anyways, usually the role of tension-reliever is assigned to the best bro, but in this case he seems to view all women as pussies on legs, and seeing as women seem to be all he thinks about, that's more of a distraction than anything, whereas I'm saying I would like to see some moments that are completely neutral.
I'll even make an actual suggestion, if I may be so presumptuous. Introduce a new character: the janitor, or Rob from accounting, or whatever; doesn't really matter, don't even need to know his name, point is to have a recurring character in the break room to ease up some of the tension - something I really feel the flow of the story could really use, as even in your more wholesome moments with Elsa you quickly get right back to some rather diabolical lines of thinking. Hell, you could even spin this into a running gag: always use the same render with both of you sipping coffee, always have an interaction of only a few sentences on the most mundane stuff. Zero emotion, zero tension, zero politics, no Ego, no being wracked with self-doubt and obsession, none of that. Just two guys sitting down, telling one another 'good afternoon', and then barely talking over a cup of coffee. Imagine this moment with
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. Hell, better writers than I could probably even turn it into commentary of previous events and/or foreshadowing of future ones, if that floats your boat.
Right, I'm going to stop now, this is turning into mental masturbation.
