User:Mesherada/Agenda
Disclaimer
Feel free to skip this tbh, as this is very opinionated lol. That’s it!
But if I had to explain why I’m doing this here, to be completely frank and to express it in a non-agenda way, it’s because I’d like people to read this to also set their expectations straight about the game. Hopefully that comes across here; if not, please let me know (and my apologies in advance).
Anti-Sseth agenda
Maintaining the agenda is always the top priority, but even though I say this… I can admit I was wrong on a few fronts. I don’t think it necessarily means that I was weak in my beliefs per se (well, actually maybe it does, who knows?), but I’d like to think it means that I’m able to recognize when maybe my feelings are misguided or that even I can conflate certain things together. Initially I wrote this whole thing as an anti-E+/anti-Sseth agenda, but I was wrong to do so. It’s… not really on E+? Nor were my complaints even mainly about it at all. I just found ways to include E+, which was my mistake. While I’m personally not a fan of E+, it doesn’t mean that thousands of people haven’t been enjoying it for the past… idk, at least a decade if not more. Ano has made questionable changes, yes, but he was also the one keeping it alive all this time. Would Elona, if it had stopped at vanilla and not received the E+ mod treatment, stayed relevant all this time until Elin’s release now? It’s hard to say, but I can’t confidently say I know it would have. It’s entirely possible (or rather, it’s likely even?) it would’ve just eventually faded into the back of people’s minds and essentially disappeared from everyone’s memories. I doubt there’d be as much hype for Elin if there wasn’t also the massive playerbase, I’m sure, still playing E+. And bashing on it doesn’t do anyone any good, not when… maybe it’s all that people know either. And with all the updates from him all these years, keeping it alive, can I really fault anyone? I don’t think I can. Elin’s a new start, a new journey, and a way for all of us (from vanilla, E+, and Omake; maybe even mobile) to… reunite. I’m sorry I was so salty. I was wrong.
I’ll just end with this: thanks for calling me out on it anon. (Iykyk.)
However, I still believe I’m completely right about Sseth, so here we go.
With regards to SsethTzeentach? Ugh. Sure, I will absolutely acknowledge the attention he brought to Elona, but he’s also the cause of so, so many misunderstandings about the game. He’s the reason so many people have weird, cringe expectations of Elona (and Elin) as some “adult” and “ero” game. With regards to the misunderstandings though, you can easily see this on the Steam Discussion boards, where people rave (yeah, it’s pretty bad) and express their excitement about things like “bleach abortions”, “pregnancies”, and other stuff like “prostitutes everywhere” or whatever Sseth said in his video. First of all, a lot of it was translators who took the liberty to translate things inaccurately. Very tasteless, edgy stuff that was exacerbated by Sseth (who is obviously a content creator and thus his focus is on shock value and entertainment, rather than accuracy). Secondly, from what I’ve heard, this was even eventually addressed in the Japanese version because now it’s “parasitized” instead of “pregnant”.
I’ll just quote one of the mods in the Elona/Elin Discord.
So please, remember, this game isn’t only all of the weird things Sseth emphasized and focused on massively in his for-max-shock-value, edgy video about Elona. It’s a much slower game that has you really take your time and dive deep into its various mechanics. There’s a lot more to the world of Ylva than whatever dumb things he talked about.
I guess my final thing would be proof. You might think I’m exaggerating. That this isn’t all that bad, or that it isn’t as bad as I’m describing. Well, please refer to the following posts on the Elin Steam Discussion boards. These kinds of cringe opinions are not unpopular; in fact, I’d say they’re terrifyingly commonplace. Please make sure you set your expectations accordingly. Because it’s pretty hard to read some of these.