What are my issues with Belladonna, and why.

As I said in the descriptionbox of the video, I actually have major issues with this game, and it might just be me - but I still feel like I have to get it out there.

This is not the first time I sat back with a really weird feeling, concerning games. and we are not counting major clusterfucks such as the Mass Effect star child - i hate that ending enough so, that I could not be bothered getting the remastered version of my all time favorite game - cause fuck that ending with a cactus. 

But talking about Mass Effect, then I had major, MAJOR issues with Andromeda, and not just the obvious ones - like the plot is dumb, the game is lame, and where the fuck is my Shepard (also i played it upon release, so it was a hilarious dumpsterfire). But how they chose to write the optional romance with that red haired dude, whose name I forgot, Brody? Grady? Geoff? whatever, you know who I am talking about - the dude with the pornstar sideburns. if you play as the male twin, then discount Ron Jeremy is basically already one hand in the cookie jar when you talk with him the first time. I don't know man, but I remember I was like 'fuck that noise' and never talked to him again - we meet him later where he managed to wrangle some other poor sod into a relationship and adopting a kid?! Slow down there sport! And yes that was offensive to me, not that the character wanted a partner and a kid, cause that is the wish of many people no matter what. But that he was written in such a primitive way, with a singular goal - and that was getting a man and a kid, dammit! and if he can't get you, he'll just get someone else. Now Andromeda is not a good game, and the characters lack depth and likeability. And this bloke suffers under that, but he is just painfully underdeveloped - and what offends me, is that this character comes off as a last minute decision. He is not well written or relateable by any stretch of the imagination. And other characters in that shit game is much better written - which is still really low hanging fruit tbh. 

And that is what angers me. if you have to shoehorn something in there , then DON'T do it! as an author I learned this the hard way. 

So to get back to the actual subject of why this game Belladonna irks me so much (though mass effect is more fun to write about), is because as I said in the description box, not only does Klara sound like a teenager, and Belladonna is something of a vixen. Then Klara does not recall their romance at all, and Belladonna - who is with the same breath, damming Wolfgang for making her into an object - not really interested, and responds with something akin to "you were dead for a long while, it'll probably take time". And in the meanwhile? what? See that was why I talked about sideburn guy from Andromeda, it's the same shit - Belladonna has a singular goal, and she will push a circle into a square to get it. Not caring about other people's objections, but in that very soft psychologically manipulative way. 

And honestly, Klara doesn't sound like she is all that into it, she is basically just sticking around cause she don't know where else to go. 

There is a moment in the game where we find a scroll, the only letter written by Klara when she was alive. it is pretty infodump'ish, and yet not. cause it somehow tries to justify - what should we call it? the dynamics? - so the letter states, and I quote: for a long while Belladonna was all I dreamed about, my queen my goddess, and my deepest wish was for her to let me into her life and let me worship her. I thought I would give up anything for that, but now that I am here I wonder if I have sacrificed too much. Belladonna comes from high society, and she doesn't realise how much she takes for granted. It is still clear who is the lady, and who is the servant... 

She also states in the same letter that she is not sure if she can live like this, and contemplates leaving. 

and when we get the chance to tell Belladonna (in present time) that we need to talk about something (the letter), then when Belladonna waits for Klara to talk, Klara choses to say it's not important. 

come again? not important? 

So excuse me for psychoanalysing this shit, but in the letters it's clear, from both Belladonna, and Klara. That the reason they ever got into a romance is because Klara was there when Wolfgang (or what the shit his name was) was not, and that Belladonna grieved the loss of her son - Klara was there with an ear and a shoulder. Of course she was, she was paid to be there, she was staff. 

So what bothers me is the dynamics, it's pretty non consensual to me. and I might read something into it, that it's not. but I can't help but getting that 'fantasy feeling' like when Dean Koontz used to write about women who admired themselves in the mirror, or the cliche one with ripping off the heels of your shoes and they act like flats. I don't know of the dev is a man or a woman, but I would almost make a bet that it's a man. This plot is like really badly written fanfiction or some sorts, ignoring the glaring issues.

It's no secret that I wrote tons of fanfiction, it's been many years since I did it last, but never say never - maybe something strikes my muse again someday. I have absolutely no problem with fanfiction whatsoever, I think it's a great creative outlet of flawed stories. but it's also a cesspool of problematic approaches, and those who look for problematic issues in any and all things written. I am not some super sensetive snowflake, but I can't help but to think of a specific story that a friend of mine wrote, about a character who was basically reborn, and the guy who cared for this reborn character sort of manipulated them into a romance. And when I say that, I actually didn't hate the story, many did, I was not one. I could see what the author had tried to do, I know her - and I saw that story about that absolute power corrupts absolutely. 

But if you're going to write about stockholms syndrome, or emotional manipulation to such a degree that someone agrees to a relationship they might not really want, then you need to have a reason to write it! it's not hot, it's disturbing.