Same here I was only really going though the series because a lot of other people kept telling me to and by the start of book 4 I was already tiring of it Jun/ko was just the last straw
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People who read Samurai of Hyuga not expecting the MC who literally start the novel like ‘Damn, I was such a murderous piece of shit who’d kill for scraps of food, that kid really pulled me out of the pit’ to not regress to being at least an asshole or overly violent after being separated from said kid and having to forceful re-awaken his evil sword god mode are really killing me.
People are too used to ‘Recovering Bad Guy’ who’d never actually do anything bad no matter the context.
Also I wouldn’t call the Junko plotline ‘railroading’, you got fucking kidnapped, obviously you have no choice. People talk about wanting characters to be real people and have agency, well here it is and that’s what happen when you give agency to a character stronger than the MC, it limited your choices. You can’t have both.
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And people who get mad at any criticism of something they like really annoy me 
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No need to get mad at a simple discussion, chill out.
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I wasn’t getting mad just saying part of what you said back at you
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I never said anyone was mad, I said I don’t understand why people got surprised by their MC being a violent asshole. The whole game is about slaughtering people to get to a demon to also slaughter, that’s not really a nice person job to begin with.
Surprise isn’t anger.
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The surprise to me is more due to lack of development: the Ronin is basically the same through the entire serie, maybe he/she even got worse. And despite all that almost the entire supporting cast see him/her as a leader/messiah
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I mean, they live in a world where people in power get so bad, they turn into an unironic demon. The fact that the MC managed to kill like two or three AND demonstrated some capabilities to be better and show kindness in the right circumstance already put him way ahead.
Just look at the absolute hell that was book 3 after you got reduced to a more normal fighter, that’s basically every day life in that setting.
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Fine maybe that was a poor choice of word is very defensive better?
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Pretty sure that directly provoked the creation of the ROs You Love But Everybody Else Hates thread in reply to this one.
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Holy crap, it took me until now to find this, I am so sorry.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t; however a culture uses a name is perfectly fine, and far be it for me to say otherwise. Not my place.
I’m just saying that I, specifically, have grown up on the belief that certain names sound more masculine or feminine - like how girls would be named Willow and boys would be named Jack - and seeing those names then used for the opposite genders that I associate them with sometimes throws me for a loop because I’m so used to seeing a name attached to a specific gender. Suddenly Willow is a boy and Jack is a girl and I end up sitting for a few seconds trying to teach my brain that that’s how those names work now.
In the case of Javi, that name, to me, reads very much like a name for boys, so when Javi turns up as a female character, my brain has trouble bridging that gap, not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because I’m hard-wired to see the name Javi as primarily male.
That’s all I meant by that, names make my brain do loops. Sorry if I said it weird previously.
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Sebastian from Belle-de-Nuit gets my vote as an RO I think should take a hike. Let’s see, I have a skilled Moor woman that is good in one thing - slamming rapier on the head of some random idiot and does it near-constantly in service of that brothel. She is not a talker, gets things done through force and happens to be generally noble despite her brisk demeanor.
Guess what happens the second Sebastian appears on the screen? My competent lady who hates his guts suddenly constantly says he makes good points, someone to be listened to, someone so cool, so smart, such a good fighter, her heart races in throes of passion.
And when, god forbid, my Moor fails unclearly-written checks? Of course Sebastian has to shine in her place and show that he is so much better and so much more competent, constantly pulling this foolish lady out of trouble. The most egregious example was the encounter with a priest during her walk to Church for service. We gracefully and politely try to avoid him, saying that we aren’t a heretic, heathen or, god forbid, an atheist, we’re a good Christian (which she was), we seem to be somewhat successful, but no, of course he has to get stuck in our way so Sebastian could rescue my Moor with some annoying commentary about my character constantly getting into trouble.
This is how it goes throughout the game. Constant shilling of this annoying Spaniard who didn’t grow out of the archetype about dashing idalgos, constant praising of him doing the bare minimum. Even when I kicked his arse in the last duel he could not be defeated by my clearly superior skill and knowledge about him like a little shit he is, of course he has to do it gracefully, with so much skill, so much so that the duel almost ended up a draw.
Sod off, Sebastian. You’re so bloody annoying and such a Marty Sue that I would not want to romance you no matter how much the game tries to push us together and how most of romance achievements involve your sorry arse.
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I thought Sebastian was the worst Heart’s Choice love interest, but Dawnfall surprised me. I now realise how Zyrios felt during her / his / their run through another pirate game, because it’s about the same, but somehow worse.
We have a pirate crew that we, the player, are expected to romance, but all of them ultimately default to a gaggle of cheerleaders for reality-warping lady that tries to make us pity her by constantly telling us sob stories about how she steals and murders for a good reason, promise. Everyone has a sob story that supposedly justifies their loyalty to a pirate and complicity in theft and murder.
When my character, a lawful and strict man that sincerely loved his sister and didn’t tolerate his own Circle suddenly turning out to be pirates, didn’t express sympathy for said sob stories, didn’t say that risking everything they were planning to do for one Force ghost is a good idea, this gaggle immediately raised a choir of "how could you"s and "how dare you"s. They constantly spout their sob stories on you, constantly try to make you believe they’re the good guys, Base Seven are just meanies and often you’re forced to agree with at least some of them, to show basic camaraderie to idiots that constantly risk your and their skins and, honestly, just betray you and hide things from you.
Said reality-warping lady actually destroys the universes she jumps through and is an agent of instability between the world. Amazing figure to defend, just wonderful.
Worst part? They get off scot-free and epilogue waxed poetics about unity in many, about connections and ties that bind you. Christ, if I had such ties, I would prefer to not do this shit at all.
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The writing is decent but the faux feminism in this book is infuriating.
I don’t dislike Sebastian, I think he’s a decently written love interest and in a different book (maybe even with a different premise) he’d be a good RO but I hated how MC acted around him. By the time Sebastian rescues MC from being slandered by the priest (where I stopped reading) I wasn’t sure what she did to deserve the position of a brothel bodyguard - maybe the madame took pity on her.
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My character romanced Amaryllis and considered Sebastian a pain in the arse with too much pretence - when she could, of course, because how could you not ogle this Spaniard, how could you not consider him the height of sophistication? He’s not all that sly or sophisticated - in fact, he is fairly rude, blunt and reminds me of love interests from paperback novels.
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I LOVE how frequently Jun/ko from Samurai of Hyuga is mentioned. I actually like him, but book 4 really is insufferable if you don’t like them – the Steam reviews say as much. You can safeword out of sexual encounters with them (unless I’ve misremembered or the Junko route is different) but yeah, the actual literal shackling is still bad. I had a lot of fun shouting about the latest off-the-walls thing Jun/ko with my friends though!
10/10 wouldn’t date again, but Jun making the MC call him “Daddy” for 2 seconds before the MC tells him that’s inappropriate (for contextual reasons) was very entertaining.
Plus, their eventual development is sweet. It’s not redeeming, but frankly, if you’re romancing Jun/ko, I’m assuming you’re the type to go, “You’re fictional, so the several dozen atrocities you’ve committed actually make you more compelling/entertaining/attractive.”
Honestly, the Samurai of Hyuga series in general has a lot of potentially triggering content or content that is just outright nauseating (Book 5) and doesn’t necessarily handle it well. I enjoyed it, but I’d imagine the series is very polarizing.
Aside from that, there aren’t any ROs I genuinely dislike, especially because I tend to go for characters (villains) that I think should fall off a cliff BUT I’d smooch them first.
I have some conflicting feelings about Adam/Ava from the Wayhaven series, since they’re so… wishy-washy? But I also find their determination to be alone and in agony very funny. I do hate that you can enter a love triangle/angle with A and N since I thought it was going to be polyamory, but it could be worse. It could be the Vampire Diaries, where folks are so monogamous that they only fall in love with people who are identical to their first loves… while also being immortal. Agonizing.
I’ve only played the demos for this game, but I suspect that I’d actually hate Black Magic because there are a few atrocities I do not find entertaining even in fiction.
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Was enjoying the hard sapphic vibes of the story then this fuckin’ guy stomps in and crushed it. Like bro, I’m the man-hating lesbian homophobes warned you about, fuck off. I cannot understand why he’s in the story. It’s like the entire thing was made with him being the only RO in mind, yet it’s so gay otherwise. It’s baffling and infuriating in equal measure 'cause I know I’d like it if he only existed to be the annoying rival who occasionally popped up to get his shit kicked in as I initially expected him to be. And I played the unpatched version which was way worse about it early on, like it used to be more egregious (even if an oversight/bug and not intentional). So frustrated he ruins what would’ve been a cool story 
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Didn’t play the game, but it isn’t really lesbian if there is a dude…
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Ngl I’ve never played SoH but this thread really really makes me want to lol
It’s so funny you say this, cause finishing Wayhaven 3 made me wanna rewatch tvd and I couldn’t stop thinking about how much N reminds me of Stefan!
Well, that would explain why I find N to be boring as a bowl of soggy noodles! I’ll take Damon any day of the week, though. Or Elijah, in a pinch.
As for SoH… if you’re a masochist and have no desire to control your MC, go for it. You’ll enjoy it. From what I heard of b5, I’m glad I stopped at b4. Between ruining Tosh completely and… what happens with the kid… no thanks.
On topic, I’d like to add Quinn from Defiled Hearts to the list of ROs I hate. At first, he was just weird. Now, he’s downright creepy.
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