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I unlocked Yoosung's After Ending and watched his Normal Ending, and I added them to the end of my reactions to his route. They were cute! THE REST OF THIS POST IS NOT CUTE.
I played the first episode of the Deep Story secret endings, and was feeling sufficiently unmotivated to play the rest that I looked up the plot for them and a bunch of other content I haven't seen yet and....NOPE.
Since they all kind of form one related set of narratives, here's the summary for Secret End 1 Chapter 1, and some NOPE reactions to summaries of the rest of the Deep Story secret endings, and then to Another Story (V and Ray's routes)
Also I mention some events from the other bad ends and rant about some general issues with the game.
Content Notes: Suicide, hinky portrayal of mental illness
Secret End Episode 1:
Jumin is talking about the RFA on the radio but his name is labelled "Raido" for some reason??
Raido, apparently: The RFA will fund the arts and suicide prevention. We are setting up information infrastructure to spread accurate information, which we believe is the best way to fix social inequality.
Yeah, I'll bet you do, trust fund kid.
They are approaching their rendezvous with Vanderwood. Saeyoung is shaking with fear about the possibility of losing Saeran, and makes sure MC knows where the gun is.
Vanderwood and Saeran watch Saeyoung's car approach...having teamed up to take him out???
Saeran: I can tell your boss was lying when he said you'd be safe if you just took care of this.
Vanderwood: Shut up, you're a hostage. Shouldn't you be more worried about your own life?
She sees MC and expresses mild regret that MC will die along with Saeyoung.
Saeyoung: The info you want is in the car. I have to check that your hostage is safe.
Vanderwood: No, go to the car with me.
MC: Go to the car with me.
Saeyoung: No, I'll go!
Vanderwood: No, I'll take her. You know what happens to her if you do something, right Agent 707?
Saeyoung: If you do anything to her I'll blow up this whole place.
Saeran: What is he up to?
Once Vanderwood is gone with MC, Saeyoung says "Don't worry, we'll get out of here safely. Do you know how many agents there are here?"
Saeran: Don't think I'm on your side.
Saeyoung: You don't have to be on my side. You can live and get your revenge.
Saeran: I'd rather die than get help from you!
Saeyoung: *sigh* Please forgive me *knocks him out*
Back at the car, MC turns on the radio.
OH. "RAIDO"="RADIO".
Raido: It's me, agent 707. You know the agency will get rid of you once this is over. You only came this far because there was no way out. But if you open the glove box, you'll find new identification forms. If you understand, tell your boss everything is ok, and drive the car towards me. By the way, it's bullet proof.
Muttering to herself that this is at least a less painful way to die, Vanderwood drives the car over and Seven shoves in Saeran.
Vanderwood: What, why is he unconscious?
Come on Vanderwood, you've met Saeran.
Realising betrayal, the agency starts shooting, and MC drives them away as Saeyoung barely makes it inside. I think he maybe got shot??
Saeyoung briefly enters the chat to let Jumin know they got Saeran.
They're all in a cabin. Seven is dealing with a bullet wound while Vanderwood says they should just post the info and cause the whole agency to self destruct.
Saeyoung: But then the innocent people in the agency would die too. I can see a doctor when we're safe. I have two people to protect now.
Vanderwood: I guess I'm not counted.
Saeyoung: Thank you for deciding to get us out.
Vanderwood: I didn't do it for you.
Saeran: Where...am I?
Vanderwood: You wake up and find you're rescued. So lucky, no?
Saeran: Why are you two together?
Vanderwood: Oh, I betrayed the agency and ran away with your brother and sister-in-law ^_^
Saeyuoung: Saeran ;_;
Vanderwood: I talked with your brother when I kidnapped him...he thinks of you as his arch enemy or something. What the hell did you guys fight about?
omg they let Saeran outside ALONE???? Because he said he wanted fresh air and a cigarette???? YOU. ARE. SPIES. I don't think Saeran even smokes!!
SURE ENOUGH he has stolen Vanderwood's phone and called Mint Eye with the coordinates.
Saeren: Luciel, you will pay with your life for tricking me. And you assistant and that woman...will be invited to Heaven.
That's just lazy writing. There are ways he could have done that without the writers handing TWO EXPERIENCED SPIES the idiot ball.
The next morning, Seven is trying to explain everything to Saeran and getting nowhere. Vanderwood is endearingly concerned about Seven's injury. And then...A KNOCK AT THE DOOR.
Saeyoung: Get behind me, MC!
Vanderwood: It must be the agency. Should I just start shooting?
Saeran: Stand back, traitors :D *door begins to open* You're just in- WHY ARE YOU HERE?!
V: Saeyoung.
THE END????
Goddamn it. I knew they'd do this! Urgh. There are 9 remaining episodes, costing 10 hourglasses each, and I have 73 hourglasses. So I need 27 more, which is about 5 days of playing.
*starts collecting hourglasses by half heartedly playing Jumin's route*
*thinks about how I could be spending them on DLCs involving my forever girl Jaehee instead of these endless Secret Endings*
*discovers Secret Ending 1 is only first half of a story which requires 140 hourglasses total to unlock*
YEAH OK TIME TO LOOK UP SPOILERS
I was discussing Seven's route with a friend, and she thought it all sounded awful, and while I liked it, the more I discussed it with her the more I realised how much I've just been...thinking around the irritating ridiculousness of Mint Eye and V and Rika. They worked ok as background plot elements to create tension and angst, but I find them annoying and they don't make any damn sense.
And the secret Ending and Another Story turn out to be WALL TO WALL MINT EYE. They also have a bunch of tropes I am reaaaallly not good with. So. That's 600+ hourglasses I'll be saving! (eg about $12, with more for the related DLCs)
Also it turns out Vanderwood was written as an unambiguous man in Korean but the translator got confused. Girl!Vanderwood was more interesting if you ask me, so I'm sticking with her in my heart. Glad it wasn't transphobia, at any rate.
Anyway.
Here's the plot of the Secret Ending:
V and a bunch of Mint Eye cultists take everyone to Mint Eye. Rika is all Evil Cult Leader.
Flashback: Rika has a ~crazy Dark Side that is described as depression and paranoia but sounds very Fictional Crazy to me. V says she should take out her violent tendencies on him, so she does. Over time she gets frustrated that RFA isn't saving enough people and decides the best solution is a brainwashing cult.
Rika rejects Saeren in favour of the more competent Saeyoung, who just tries to protect Saeran and MC. Saeren goes ~crazy from the internal conflict and shoots V, who dies.
Jumin comes to the rescue with the police, and Mint Eye is disbanded. Saeren and Rika are sent to therapy. Saeran responds poorly so Saeyoung kidnaps him and saves him with the Power of Self Sacrificing Love (which works, because Saeran is a man with trauma not a woman who was born crazy).
EVERYONE EXCEPT V LIVES HAPPILY EVER AFTER I GUESS.
Nooooope.
Another Story Common Route and V's Route
Another Story:
MC is taken to Mint Eye under the guise of testing a "video game" eg joining the RFA chat and hosting a party.
She meets Rika, V, and Saeren and chooses who to side with.
Siding with Rika leads to them becoming Evil Queer Lady Cult Leaders together and having sex. Which...on the one hand, kinda hot, on the other hand OH I SEE. THE EVIL LADY GETS TO HAVE SEX WITH MC. BUT NOT JAEHEE.
V's route: "Through the support of the MC, V can realise that even if he sacrifices himself, Rika will never stop and that the only way to stop her is to break down Mint Eye"
YOU THINK, BUDDY??
I realise he's an abuse victim. But...he's an abuse victim who helped his abusive partner ruin hundreds of people's lives, and it feels like the narrative doesn't consider those people all that important. The game starts out being about a little group of friends and their personal problems, and it does that stuff really well, but then Serious Shit happens and the fact that it still only cares about those people and their personal problems starts to feel claustrophobic and gross.
Rika is distraught, stabs V, and abandons Mint Eye. Saeran sends all the cultists away and kills himself. Rika is revealed for what she is and goes into treatment. V travels the world to heal himself then comes back to MC and they live happily ever after.
In the bad end he and MC have some sort of orgy because NON NORMATIVE SEX IS BAD.
Saeran's Route:
"In Another Story, Saeran has two different personalities, Ray and Unknown, which is likely a side effect from ingesting Mint Eye's elixir of salvation for several years..."
NOPE
Bad Ends to the main story:
Yoosung Endings
Jaehee Endings
Zen Endings
Seven Endings
Jumin Endings
You know what, I can't even be bothered.
But: Jumin also has a bad end with kink in it, Zen has a bad end where they have sex early, and a Seven bad end involves MC seducing him. THE ONLY GOOD SEX IS VANILLA AND MONOGAMOUS AND INITIATED BY A MAN TOWARDS A WOMAN. The Zen After Ending looks gross too.
On the plus side, one Jaehee bad end has MC married to Zen and Jaehee drunk and sad, while another has MC working for Jumin. YES. BEING WITH ZEN OR JUMIN IS A BAD END.
I guess I should be grateful that unlike the other Cheritz games the good ends lack overt dubcon elements? (I can be ok with dubcon but not when it's combined with slut shaming)
Some general negative thoughts:
During the three years that I have been pining after this game, I kept encountering links to an essay (or maybe essays) about how amazingly feminist and critical of gender roles the game is, but since they warned for spoilers I didn't read the essay(s) and just wished harder for a way to play it.
The whole time I was playing I kept waiting for this amazing feminist deconstruction of gender roles... and it never came.
There's a lot I enjoyed about this game! But in terms of gender it is just...slightly less heteronormative than your average otome. And that means it is...kinda sexist.
I found what I am pretty sure is the main essay people were linking to: How to (not) save your boyfriend: examining gender roles in Mystic Messenger. And then I spent some time ANGRILY COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW WRONG IT IS to anyone who'd listen. Sorry, writer, but these are bog standard het romance tropes written moderately well. If you think that's uniquely subversive may I introduce you to SEVERAL CENTURIES WORTH OF VAGUELY FEMINIST HET ROMANCE which does EXACTLY THE SAME THINGS.
Meanwhile, thinking about all the bad endings, and all the female characters, there is a repeated thread of good women being self sacrificing and sexless and rational, and bad women being emotional and selfish and overtly sexual. In her route, Jaehee does get to carve a tiny bit of selfishness for herself instead of being entirely dominated by Jumin but in a sexless, rational way, that still involves being Nice and Good.
Men are encouraged to be self sacrificing too but ehhhhhhhh. Savage critique of heteronormative romance my ass.
Also...I realise I haven't seen Mint Eye in action but it seems like a Generic Evil Cult, which feels lazy and OOC for Rika. If she made a genuinely appealing cult that people at least superficially enjoyed being in that would be so much more interesting, and a believable thing for her to decide was capable of saving the world. You could still have mind control drugs, I guess, but used in a less cliched way.
Also uuurgh mental illness as a Nice Sane Person burdened by a distinct Dark Crazy Side, with the dark crazy side's motivations being just to hurt people or whatever. I could just barely deal with it with Tei in Nameless because he's not psychologically human, and that game was tropey and ridiculous all the way through.
But in this case? NOPE.
I'll keep half heartedly playing Jumin's route for now I guess but we'll see how I do. It looked iffy based on the plot summary too.
Other than that I'll see if I can be bothered paying a few bucks for some fluffy DLCs about Jaehee and maybe Yoosung and then I will be done with this game.
I unlocked Yoosung's After Ending and watched his Normal Ending, and I added them to the end of my reactions to his route. They were cute! THE REST OF THIS POST IS NOT CUTE.
I played the first episode of the Deep Story secret endings, and was feeling sufficiently unmotivated to play the rest that I looked up the plot for them and a bunch of other content I haven't seen yet and....NOPE.
Since they all kind of form one related set of narratives, here's the summary for Secret End 1 Chapter 1, and some NOPE reactions to summaries of the rest of the Deep Story secret endings, and then to Another Story (V and Ray's routes)
Also I mention some events from the other bad ends and rant about some general issues with the game.
Content Notes: Suicide, hinky portrayal of mental illness
Secret End Episode 1:
Jumin is talking about the RFA on the radio but his name is labelled "Raido" for some reason??
Raido, apparently: The RFA will fund the arts and suicide prevention. We are setting up information infrastructure to spread accurate information, which we believe is the best way to fix social inequality.
Yeah, I'll bet you do, trust fund kid.
They are approaching their rendezvous with Vanderwood. Saeyoung is shaking with fear about the possibility of losing Saeran, and makes sure MC knows where the gun is.
Vanderwood and Saeran watch Saeyoung's car approach...having teamed up to take him out???
Saeran: I can tell your boss was lying when he said you'd be safe if you just took care of this.
Vanderwood: Shut up, you're a hostage. Shouldn't you be more worried about your own life?
She sees MC and expresses mild regret that MC will die along with Saeyoung.
Saeyoung: The info you want is in the car. I have to check that your hostage is safe.
Vanderwood: No, go to the car with me.
MC: Go to the car with me.
Saeyoung: No, I'll go!
Vanderwood: No, I'll take her. You know what happens to her if you do something, right Agent 707?
Saeyoung: If you do anything to her I'll blow up this whole place.
Saeran: What is he up to?
Once Vanderwood is gone with MC, Saeyoung says "Don't worry, we'll get out of here safely. Do you know how many agents there are here?"
Saeran: Don't think I'm on your side.
Saeyoung: You don't have to be on my side. You can live and get your revenge.
Saeran: I'd rather die than get help from you!
Saeyoung: *sigh* Please forgive me *knocks him out*
Back at the car, MC turns on the radio.
OH. "RAIDO"="RADIO".
Raido: It's me, agent 707. You know the agency will get rid of you once this is over. You only came this far because there was no way out. But if you open the glove box, you'll find new identification forms. If you understand, tell your boss everything is ok, and drive the car towards me. By the way, it's bullet proof.
Muttering to herself that this is at least a less painful way to die, Vanderwood drives the car over and Seven shoves in Saeran.
Vanderwood: What, why is he unconscious?
Come on Vanderwood, you've met Saeran.
Realising betrayal, the agency starts shooting, and MC drives them away as Saeyoung barely makes it inside. I think he maybe got shot??
Saeyoung briefly enters the chat to let Jumin know they got Saeran.
They're all in a cabin. Seven is dealing with a bullet wound while Vanderwood says they should just post the info and cause the whole agency to self destruct.
Saeyoung: But then the innocent people in the agency would die too. I can see a doctor when we're safe. I have two people to protect now.
Vanderwood: I guess I'm not counted.
Saeyoung: Thank you for deciding to get us out.
Vanderwood: I didn't do it for you.
Saeran: Where...am I?
Vanderwood: You wake up and find you're rescued. So lucky, no?
Saeran: Why are you two together?
Vanderwood: Oh, I betrayed the agency and ran away with your brother and sister-in-law ^_^
Saeyuoung: Saeran ;_;
Vanderwood: I talked with your brother when I kidnapped him...he thinks of you as his arch enemy or something. What the hell did you guys fight about?
omg they let Saeran outside ALONE???? Because he said he wanted fresh air and a cigarette???? YOU. ARE. SPIES. I don't think Saeran even smokes!!
SURE ENOUGH he has stolen Vanderwood's phone and called Mint Eye with the coordinates.
Saeren: Luciel, you will pay with your life for tricking me. And you assistant and that woman...will be invited to Heaven.
That's just lazy writing. There are ways he could have done that without the writers handing TWO EXPERIENCED SPIES the idiot ball.
The next morning, Seven is trying to explain everything to Saeran and getting nowhere. Vanderwood is endearingly concerned about Seven's injury. And then...A KNOCK AT THE DOOR.
Saeyoung: Get behind me, MC!
Vanderwood: It must be the agency. Should I just start shooting?
Saeran: Stand back, traitors :D *door begins to open* You're just in- WHY ARE YOU HERE?!
V: Saeyoung.
THE END????
Goddamn it. I knew they'd do this! Urgh. There are 9 remaining episodes, costing 10 hourglasses each, and I have 73 hourglasses. So I need 27 more, which is about 5 days of playing.
*starts collecting hourglasses by half heartedly playing Jumin's route*
*thinks about how I could be spending them on DLCs involving my forever girl Jaehee instead of these endless Secret Endings*
*discovers Secret Ending 1 is only first half of a story which requires 140 hourglasses total to unlock*
YEAH OK TIME TO LOOK UP SPOILERS
I was discussing Seven's route with a friend, and she thought it all sounded awful, and while I liked it, the more I discussed it with her the more I realised how much I've just been...thinking around the irritating ridiculousness of Mint Eye and V and Rika. They worked ok as background plot elements to create tension and angst, but I find them annoying and they don't make any damn sense.
And the secret Ending and Another Story turn out to be WALL TO WALL MINT EYE. They also have a bunch of tropes I am reaaaallly not good with. So. That's 600+ hourglasses I'll be saving! (eg about $12, with more for the related DLCs)
Also it turns out Vanderwood was written as an unambiguous man in Korean but the translator got confused. Girl!Vanderwood was more interesting if you ask me, so I'm sticking with her in my heart. Glad it wasn't transphobia, at any rate.
Anyway.
Here's the plot of the Secret Ending:
V and a bunch of Mint Eye cultists take everyone to Mint Eye. Rika is all Evil Cult Leader.
Flashback: Rika has a ~crazy Dark Side that is described as depression and paranoia but sounds very Fictional Crazy to me. V says she should take out her violent tendencies on him, so she does. Over time she gets frustrated that RFA isn't saving enough people and decides the best solution is a brainwashing cult.
Rika rejects Saeren in favour of the more competent Saeyoung, who just tries to protect Saeran and MC. Saeren goes ~crazy from the internal conflict and shoots V, who dies.
Jumin comes to the rescue with the police, and Mint Eye is disbanded. Saeren and Rika are sent to therapy. Saeran responds poorly so Saeyoung kidnaps him and saves him with the Power of Self Sacrificing Love (which works, because Saeran is a man with trauma not a woman who was born crazy).
EVERYONE EXCEPT V LIVES HAPPILY EVER AFTER I GUESS.
Nooooope.
Another Story Common Route and V's Route
Another Story:
MC is taken to Mint Eye under the guise of testing a "video game" eg joining the RFA chat and hosting a party.
She meets Rika, V, and Saeren and chooses who to side with.
Siding with Rika leads to them becoming Evil Queer Lady Cult Leaders together and having sex. Which...on the one hand, kinda hot, on the other hand OH I SEE. THE EVIL LADY GETS TO HAVE SEX WITH MC. BUT NOT JAEHEE.
V's route: "Through the support of the MC, V can realise that even if he sacrifices himself, Rika will never stop and that the only way to stop her is to break down Mint Eye"
YOU THINK, BUDDY??
I realise he's an abuse victim. But...he's an abuse victim who helped his abusive partner ruin hundreds of people's lives, and it feels like the narrative doesn't consider those people all that important. The game starts out being about a little group of friends and their personal problems, and it does that stuff really well, but then Serious Shit happens and the fact that it still only cares about those people and their personal problems starts to feel claustrophobic and gross.
Rika is distraught, stabs V, and abandons Mint Eye. Saeran sends all the cultists away and kills himself. Rika is revealed for what she is and goes into treatment. V travels the world to heal himself then comes back to MC and they live happily ever after.
In the bad end he and MC have some sort of orgy because NON NORMATIVE SEX IS BAD.
Saeran's Route:
"In Another Story, Saeran has two different personalities, Ray and Unknown, which is likely a side effect from ingesting Mint Eye's elixir of salvation for several years..."
NOPE
Bad Ends to the main story:
Yoosung Endings
Jaehee Endings
Zen Endings
Seven Endings
Jumin Endings
You know what, I can't even be bothered.
But: Jumin also has a bad end with kink in it, Zen has a bad end where they have sex early, and a Seven bad end involves MC seducing him. THE ONLY GOOD SEX IS VANILLA AND MONOGAMOUS AND INITIATED BY A MAN TOWARDS A WOMAN. The Zen After Ending looks gross too.
On the plus side, one Jaehee bad end has MC married to Zen and Jaehee drunk and sad, while another has MC working for Jumin. YES. BEING WITH ZEN OR JUMIN IS A BAD END.
I guess I should be grateful that unlike the other Cheritz games the good ends lack overt dubcon elements? (I can be ok with dubcon but not when it's combined with slut shaming)
Some general negative thoughts:
During the three years that I have been pining after this game, I kept encountering links to an essay (or maybe essays) about how amazingly feminist and critical of gender roles the game is, but since they warned for spoilers I didn't read the essay(s) and just wished harder for a way to play it.
The whole time I was playing I kept waiting for this amazing feminist deconstruction of gender roles... and it never came.
There's a lot I enjoyed about this game! But in terms of gender it is just...slightly less heteronormative than your average otome. And that means it is...kinda sexist.
I found what I am pretty sure is the main essay people were linking to: How to (not) save your boyfriend: examining gender roles in Mystic Messenger. And then I spent some time ANGRILY COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW WRONG IT IS to anyone who'd listen. Sorry, writer, but these are bog standard het romance tropes written moderately well. If you think that's uniquely subversive may I introduce you to SEVERAL CENTURIES WORTH OF VAGUELY FEMINIST HET ROMANCE which does EXACTLY THE SAME THINGS.
Meanwhile, thinking about all the bad endings, and all the female characters, there is a repeated thread of good women being self sacrificing and sexless and rational, and bad women being emotional and selfish and overtly sexual. In her route, Jaehee does get to carve a tiny bit of selfishness for herself instead of being entirely dominated by Jumin but in a sexless, rational way, that still involves being Nice and Good.
Men are encouraged to be self sacrificing too but ehhhhhhhh. Savage critique of heteronormative romance my ass.
Also...I realise I haven't seen Mint Eye in action but it seems like a Generic Evil Cult, which feels lazy and OOC for Rika. If she made a genuinely appealing cult that people at least superficially enjoyed being in that would be so much more interesting, and a believable thing for her to decide was capable of saving the world. You could still have mind control drugs, I guess, but used in a less cliched way.
Also uuurgh mental illness as a Nice Sane Person burdened by a distinct Dark Crazy Side, with the dark crazy side's motivations being just to hurt people or whatever. I could just barely deal with it with Tei in Nameless because he's not psychologically human, and that game was tropey and ridiculous all the way through.
But in this case? NOPE.
I'll keep half heartedly playing Jumin's route for now I guess but we'll see how I do. It looked iffy based on the plot summary too.
Other than that I'll see if I can be bothered paying a few bucks for some fluffy DLCs about Jaehee and maybe Yoosung and then I will be done with this game.
