Bloodlines of Exanol. A relatively unpopular game that was released by an independent studio and more or less typical of what you'd expect from a mature otome RPG's.
As far as isekai destinations go? It wasn't that bad.
Sure, it was kind of a damper that she'd been reborn as the main villainess of the series… and that she'd awakened the memories of the past life the exact second after she'd made enemies of the main character… and that she had two months before the start of the game.
But that wasn't that big of a deal. It was actually very good, great even!
After all, the original game was incredibly unbalanced which, rather than being a detriment, meant that she could use her, frankly too in depth, knowledge about the game to become incredibly powerful. More than powerful enough to avoid facing the consequences of the actions she'd taken before remembering her past life.
Not to mention that since she was also the princess of the most powerful human kingdom, that she could enjoy a lavish lifestyle she could've never dreamed of having.
All while having a loving family who actually loved her too!
Yes, by all accounts, the world and situation she'd been reborn into wasn't bad at all. Far better than her old life had been.
…
Or at least that's what she would say, if she hadn't found out that the "main character" she had to deal with was locked into the most edgy, bullshit, pay-to-win, and war crime riddled dlc ever conceived by human imagination.
Like seriously, it's all complete and utter bullshit. Both that dlc and her situation!
And to explain exactly how bullshit the first one was, and thus explain the second as well? Well… first she'd have to explain some things about Bloodlines of Exanol.
Firstly, it was focused, as is obvious from its name, on bloodlines. What were bloodlines?
Well, they were one of the most essential functions of the game – the backbone so to speak. Not only did were they the thing that allowed the playable characters to gain extra stats outside the stupid RNG based training system, but they also decided the exact routes the players could access – sometimes even whether they could interact with a capture targets at all.
Basically, bloodlines were the core of any character both story and gameplay wise.
Now, in a normal playthrough, the players would pick the bloodline for their female character and start off, after a quick tutorial, at the academy for people with special bloodlines. Which are mostly nobility, because of course they are.
They would, as is traditional for these types of games, play as some random peasant girl…and attempt to seduce and charm the various noble "capture target" in the academy while fighting monster to level up for the inevitable "war arc" of the game.
All pretty standard for most fair and balanced otome games, even if the game deviated from the standard turn based system to a more to a more action rpg one.
Which is where the issues start. Because Bloodlines of Exanol wasn't a fair and balance game.
No, it was the so unbalanced in fact that, if you picked any difficulty other than the one called literal baby mode? The same one that locked you out of most of the better endings?
Then you're going to have to spend at least six real life hours grinding stats, or you'd get one-shot by the first enemy.
Not the first boss.
The. First. Fucking. Enemy.
So, of course, the player base did the obvious thing. They went to complain to the developers.
To which there was no reply for a month, then two months, and then three. It was only after three months of complete silence that they responded, a time in which many began to assume they were working on a fix for the numerous issues. In contrary to the nature of the internet, many people were willing to give them a chance.
They were willing to believe that the developers had the integrity to, at least, make the game playable.
And what did they say in response to this second chance when they finally replied to the community?
"Here's the dlc that we just shat out, World devouring god bloodline it'll make the game playable. Now cough up twenty dollars if you want it."
The pile on that followed that could only be described as legendary, with literally the entirety of the player base collectively proceeded to absolutely tear them a new one. The loss of player base, the sheer vitriol they spewed, becoming a meme on par with 'it just works''
… yes. She did buy the dlc, but what was she meant to do?
It was her first ARPG, her first video game even, that she'd only bought because of the pretty boys on the cover. She didn't want to give up without a fight on a game she'd already spent sixty dollars on, and really what was twenty more to fix something she'd already gotten invested in?
Nothing really… if it actually fixed anything.
But no. As it turned out, those fucking developers over-corrected in the opposite direction. In both story and gameplay.
Not only did they give the players a bloodline that gives an absurd amount of bonuses, they also added a new route that you were forced into if you selected the new bloodline. Which completely changed everything about the original storyline.
Meaning that no longer was it the original story that you got. The one of the main character entering the academy and attempting to charm various, surprisingly well written, noble boys and exploring dungeons. No more was there a cast of really well written characters, with clearly thought out character arcs and motivations.
No, you instead got a story of an asshole main character joining the academy, filled with asshole capture targets that were literally just the worst people, so she can destroy the world that dared cause her pain… presumably. Turns out, they also forgot to actually give proper reasoning for why the main character was such a raging bitch.
Because, really. What more could you expect from the developers who did what these ones did? A likeable main character?
No, that was far too much effort, didn't fucking matter that the got it right the first time around. Instead, you get an asshole main character. One who had an OP bloodline and who responds to literally any slight against her with rape, brutal torture to death, or brutal torture to death after rape.
You, the player, only really only got to choose the flavour of the war crimes committed. After all, it was a role-playing game and you were role-playing a completely abhorrent psychopath.
Whether you liked it or not.
And she had just became enemies with the same psycho main character not long ago…
Oh, and the crown prince of the strongest human kingdom, and the best capture target was also a sociopath who worships the main character due to their bloodline, To the point that he will help them with anything they want, willing to expend whatever royal authority he needed to.
Because apparently the developers thought they needed to do that to make the game playable, instead of just doing a simple balance readjustment. Which it admittedly did, similar to how lobotomies 'fix' mental illnesses.
"Um, princess… are you alright? You seem unwell."
"I'm alright Maria, it's just a headache," she, Myra Eleanor Vallejo, princess of the strongest human kingdom, replied as she handed her personal maid a paper list, "just go and check if we have the things on this list in the treasury, and ask my mother's maid to ask my mother if I can have the one's that are present."
She doesn't want to be in this shitty pay-to-win world.
