I mean you're right. I just wish that you could actually play as a sadistic dominatrix. And if you can't maybe don't put in Sadistic passives? Which we do seem to agree on. And I even mentioned yeah it doesnt' really seem to vibe with the story they wanted about a prideful woman potentially being brought down from her high horse.
And as for the corruption, some of it just feels backwards what they count as corrupt. But you do make sense about the realism not needing to be all that important.
Though I doubt we will get another job, because I think it's near the end. And at this point I wouldn't blame them for wanting to finish it, I don't hate the game, I just think they should have thought it through more, and maybe at some point they should have taken the sadism system out altogether if they weren't ever going to fully use it.
Wasn't the whole point of the sadism passive tree to make sure you won't go full-on virgin-subjugator mode? Basically, it goes like this:
you are sadistic -> you hurt people -> you get off of this -> you cum -> you lose energy -> you collapse -> enemies have their ways with you -> congrats, you are corrupted.
You choose to retreat before you reach an orgasm? Fine. You go to the bed -> you can't sleep well because you are aroused -> you wake up and go whack some ass -> eventually your tiredness catches up with you and your horniness -> enemies bring you down and have their way with you -> boom, you are corrupted.
You choose to schlick before going to bed -> congrats, you've got some new ero-passives that raise your sensitivities -> you accumulate them almost every day now -> you become overly sensitive -> you're now a free real estate for all the inmates due to how sensitive you are -> nice, you are sure as hell corrupted now.
Hell, at least that how it happened to me, I just wanted to fight my way through my first playthrough. But no, as I slapped the n-th prisoner with the flat of my halberd, the game just went with an ultimate "no, go fuck yourself" move and gave me the sadism passive.
I mean, they are
not useless, most of them give stats and also give the very useful balls kick move that helps against almost anyone, but they are, just like most of the passives, are made to be detrimental.
Basically, the game itself is all about being as quick and swift on your feet as possible. You can't just grind the shit out of it to become OP to beat all the bosses effortlessly and preserve your purity and mindset, because the longer you remain in that prison, the more traits you accumulate(read, the more perverse you become), the more they weigh you down and the more depraved you become as the result, making it harder for you to resist.
I only agree with the fact that sadism must have more abilities than just a CBT move, but other than that? The game has one of the most amazing, intricate designs when it comes to difficulty progressions. And, I swear to all the gods out there: never have I felt the whole Memento Mori thing as much as I did during my playthroughs in this game.
You are fucked no matter what you do. And sometimes?
Quite literally at that.