>>536710184
As an addendum, I really don't get where the interpretation of Zonda being a "despotic waster of life" who cares for nobody but herself comes from. Reddit and other gaming boards seem to go with this analysis. The only places that see her as sympathetic or tragic is here and TVTropes Other than Zonda and Elise, the character analysis is okay, with some of it being great (like Gibril). It lines up with what we would say, though less charitable overall. Like I would say about Nova is that he actually believes his shit and wants validation from others (his major beef with GV is because GV got more attention from the caretakers for his septima). The ego trip he goes on is due to the influence of weaponization.

>>536710945
The screwed up thing is that he lets slip he read the drama CDs (mostly when he was talking about Gibril), but he said he wasn't going to bring them up and restrict analysis to strictly to what's in the game. I think most people play through GV2, and get a terrible first impression towards Zonda that doesn't go away, even after reading everything. The Zonda in 8-4's script is one of the most unlikable people in any jump and shoot sidescroller I have ever encountered. She's casually sadistic in private, she's two-faced and obviously manipulative, doesn't care about anything but herself, and she's flippant about Tenjian and the others deaths. It's terrible. I don't think any of it was in the original script.