My issue is not that bondage in the game is disempowering or that it makes me unable to fight. I was not the one who brought up bound fighter builds. My issue is that once you are full bound and captured, it's gg. Getting bound and captured should be something the player would try to avoid, but IMHO it should not be the end of the world (the game). That's why I said that there should be a way the player could earn their freedom back. Integrate being captive into the gameplay, rather than having it as an interactive game over screen. You have other preferences, and I respect that, but let's agree to disagree.
Viewing post in Feedback on various things in the game
This is why I like detailed options menus with plenty of customization, so that for example both you and I can play a game like this and both enjoy it.
With regard to your issue with the severity of the fail state, I think the bar for Game Over may be higher than you realize. If you're fully bound and captured in a cell, or a faction cell, or doll processing or a cage/display stand, unless your security level is really high, there is an eventual point where you're released as a bound prisoner who is allowed the freedom to not be in a cell. As I'm sure you've seen many times playing the game. That point eventually comes with most situations even if you don't have cell rescues on. Now of course you can still be overwhelmed by menacing enemies dominating you all over the map while you're too tied up and docile to stop it, and it may seem to go on forever. But there are usually at least slim chances for escape. Ghosts, shrines, sharp things, asking for help from enemies ("They might see you as submissive") and so on.
One thing I like so much about the punishing consequences for losing in this game is that it's not immediate, all at once, Game Over that's interactive. Soft-lock Game Overs actually take quite a few defeats before they are even possible unless you have certain perks set.
I guess I don't understand how you're getting that, because I've been captured, fully bound, and stuck for a while and eventually ended up escaping and taking down all my captors repeatedly in playthroughs. It's not easy, but it's often very possible. The situations where it's kind of Game Over are when you're bound in a dozen items, locked in a cell and with max or near max security level. Technically not a game over, but you're end up stuck for so long waiting for the level to drop and you were probably taken to a faction prison with even less visits from guards and so yeah. A lot of people will want to just restart at that point in stead of waiting a really, really long time to be let out.
Yes, I very much like that those soft-lock Game Overs are possible, and I find myself sticking with them for quite a while as part of my roleplay-minded immersive playthroughs. But since that's not your thing, you might try playing around with perks and looking at all your options in a lot of these situations. It's usually not just Game Over even when it seems like it is.
Oh, and that reminds me of another thing. Visits from guards. Every time a guard opens the cell door you can walk/hop out and try to escape at the risk of raising your security level if you're caught. That's where level layout RNG becomes important because if you're all bound up in everything you almost certainly will be caught unless you can get to a ghost or shrine or else lead enemies into a fight with someone other than you. This is one reason the faction prisons don't have as many guard visits. Stricter because of less chances to escape.