#it was nice to make something intentionally shitty tbh I’ve been going crazy not liking my stuff lately

[companionquest]

couldnt sleep. made this monstrosity

[cannibalisticskittles]

Fans wanted a V route that's why we got a V route both him and Saeran weren't meant to be dateable in the first place

yeah that’s definitely the impression i got. hell, that’s why i started the saeran fic in the first place; i figured they didn’t plan to ever make a route for him, so i’d make one.

tbh tho i... think that v’s route straight up shouldn’t have been done. when you design a character around the central concept of How Absolutely Shit At Romance He Is, how he obsesses over a particular view of love to the point that he encourages unhealthy, violent behavior and enables massive harm (A CULT) for years, how he happily loses his eyesight for love because he thinks it’s a noble sacrifice, when he defends that love and that person with his dying death (“rika did nothing wrong” is a direct quote) and shows no sign of changing that mindset... you shouldn’t cave and make him a route because fans want it. all of those reasons why he’s Bad To Date are still there! they’re fundamental problems!

people who really wanted a v route.... well, not all of them, i know, but from the way so. so so many v stans talk about it. it’s like they looked at v and rika and thought “well, this utter shitshow only happened because rika was a crazy bitch. it’s all her fault. v was just her victim, an innocent martyr who did nothing wrong, or if he did something wrong, it’s only because she forced his hand. if she wasn’t in the equation, everything would have been fine. i bet if /I/ dated him, it would all work out great! he definitely would form a healthy relationship with ME!’ (never mind the fact that years before the story started, he not only knew about but had contacts in an incredibly dangerous and influential spy agency, and he shoved an abused 11-year-old into their arms, forcing him to cut ties with his brother and making him live in even more danger than he’d already been in. that’s totally logical behavior, right? that’s not intentionally endangering a child in the most unnecessary and bafflingly dramatic way possible, right? there’s no way that’s going to still be a problem when rika’s out of the picture, right? she had nothing to do with that batshit decision but it’s still totally her fault somehow, v DEFINITELY won’t do anything like that again!)

and, like, i’ve never been sure how aware of v’s problems the writer(s) for v’s route are, but it’s still THERE in his route. it hangs over everything. it’s almost funny; v’s route seems to me to seesaw between ‘yeah, this guy is totally dateable! there’s no problems at all, once we just... sweep them under a rug and never address them! pfft, his actions are toooootally heroic! it’s justifiable to let the kid he was supposed to protect die in a fiery blast because he’s been too useless to act for years, right?? yeah! let’s just not think about the implications! it’s fine!’ and in other places it comes off more like ‘is this what you want?? huh?? you want to date the sadsack obsessed with his girlfriend to the point that he helps a cult thrive and doesn’t stop it from kidnapping or drugging people?? that’s your idea of a good time?? well fine, TAKE IT’

his route feels Weird. and uncomfortable. and i don’t understand fans wanting a route for him but — while i think v fans OUGHT to have picked up on his penchant for nonsensical, harmful behavior, yknow, maybe they thought cheritz would... actually deal with these issues fully instead of vaguely acknowledging some faults and never resolving them? so — i definitely don’t understand cheritz going ahead and writing a route for him when he’s... him. because that weirdness and that discomfort and all the problems in his route stem from the fact that V Is A Miserable Little Man Who Fixates On Love To A Frightening Degree And Who Is Willing To Enable And Sometimes Personally Do Heinous Things. as a writer sometimes you’ve gotta say “sorry to disappoint, but no. have a nice day!”

it’s something that was a bit of a relief in saeran’s after end. the narrative very much embraces how shit v’s current AND past behavior has been. This Man Is Not Someone Who Forms Healthy Relationships, it says. all the stuff with the RFA mourning who they THOUGHT v (and rika) were — especially the scenes focused on jumin — make it clear that even his platonic relationships have huge problems. they’re based on massive lies! and he’s willing to betray their trust and throw them away for the sake of his Romanticized Love! it still doesn’t make up my mind about what the writer(s) behind v’s route thought about him bc damn, there was Too Much handwaving going on, but hey! circling back to how they presented his behavior in the main story/secret end! that’s awesome!

(and to contrast with v a bit, saeran is... traumatized and has shitty coping mechanisms and is willing to go extremely far for his cult and has years of brainwashing to undo, BUT. as a kid initially coerced into this situation, and then as a brainwashed adult who fully bought into the lies he was told and thought everything he/the cult did was to help people in desperate need, yes, he has made shit decisions, but it’s nowhere near the level of things that v or rika have done. he didn’t have the agency to make informed decisions! he was a kid! he was kidnapped! unlike them, he had no basis of comparison to say “hmm. maybe this is fucked up.” v DID have that, and he has no goddamn excuse for allowing saeran to be kidnapped, or drugged, or mint eye to thrive and do that to dozens if not hundreds of other people, For Love. so saeran has potential for a route! he needs therapy and he needs to be out of mint eye and his dad needs to be behind bars or 6 feet under so saeran doesn’t have to live in fear, but. i view him as Capable Of Healthy Relationships Eventually. moreso than v, anyway.

so while saeran’s route is a hot mess and i will Always bring up how shit it is to whip out the ‘wacky mental illness that has no basis in reality and is written just to maximize drama, never mind that it’s hugely insulting to those who actually deal with what they’re flanderizing AND that it contradicts all his characterization previously [unless they’re saying that saeran in the main routes/secret end ALWAYS went through that ~merging of split personalities~ before we see him on screen, bc his characterizations had already been a good mix of both personas]’ idea, the INTENT of the route seems more grounded than v’s; it’s about 50% ‘you wanted edgy, so we’ll give you edgy’ and 50% ‘well, this is as good a place as any to expand a little bit on the character growth alluded to in the secret end and go over a few more aspects of how he’s going to have to come to terms with how much of what he believed was a lie and reconcile with his brother.’ it’s also a weird route, and it clashes against some things that were previously established, but from what i remember, the route was at least internally consistent.

...even so, they should not have done saeran’s route the way they did. if they couldn’t come up with any ideas for a route that didn’t involve ‘jekyll and hyde suddenly!’ they just shouldn’t have done a route for him, either.)