#cheritz wizard

 Dandelion’s “Ra rochu ra no so - In a Frozen Dream” is a beautiful song. I was in shock when I first heard it in the new Rika backstory DLC, and again in V’s after ending “Forgiveness” ending. I played Dandelion and Nameless (Cheritz’s two previous games to Mystic Messenger) after completing all Good/Bad routes of the core Mystic Messenger franchise. I went through both games after the core MM game and secret endings were released and played through, but before V or Ray’s stories were released. Definitely before V’s after story or Rika’s stories were even announced.

I always liked the Wizard theories despite not completely giving into them. After all, Chertiz’ first two games " Dandelion - Wishes brought to you” and “Nameless ~The one thing you must recall “ ended up both being inter-connected because they both utilized ‘The Wizard’ and his desire to make desperate wishes come true. As a player, you initially believed they were two separate Otome games made by the same creator, and then found out through the deep-story plot that they were inter-connected. Both games were created by a repeating villain, ‘The Wizard’. He had powers to reset time and change the fabrication of the world through his powers of desperate wishes.

In Dandelion, he became obsessive over repeating the story of the protagonist due to being in love with her and wanting to see her excited or in pain from her desperate wishes derived from love through different routes. The secret ending was how he decided to create a world for himself with the protagonist, thus relenting his powers as the wizard who could control the repeating reality of the game’s story.

Nameless was similar. The player could tell throughout the game that there was a mysterious figure ‘pulling’ the meta-strings of the Otome game as she desperately wished a new life. Every route the player pursued, their protagonist could recognize a similarity to a previous route they played. Soon in deep-routes it became apparent that there was an antagonist behind it all, wanting to see the protagonist romance every character so that they could gather ‘heart’ pieces and ultimately meet them, a person from her past. That antagonist could only become who they were due to the magic of (surprise), the exact same Wizard antagonist. Despite ‘Dandelion’ and ‘Nameless’ not being prequels or sequels of each other, they both shared one common character -- The Wizard. Only, the Wizard retired at the end of Dandelion. It appeared to fans that his story took place before his retirement during the sequel, Nameless.

Naturally, any previous fan of Chertiz games wanted a similar theme to Mystic Messenger. One of the perks to Cheritz was that they connected every game using this meta plot point, and Mystic Messenger had similar themes that could potentially connect the two previous games. Every character had a secret, desperate wish. Hell, it even mentioned the two previous games in passing dialogue. But it was never explored beyond minor Easter eggs.

But one thing that really separated Mystic Messenger was that it grew much more popular than Dandelion or Nameless. Many of these players never experienced ‘Dandelion’ or ‘Nameless’. Where both previous games had a few thousand fans, MM surpassed several million between IOS and Android phones. The fans who sought out Cheritz-wizard theories received backlash because of this and various other reasons. Theories about 707 being the Wizard of MM were brought up and criticized, as did V being an evil wizard. There were more subtle theories in the fandom about negative consequences about resetting the game, and how the protagonist might be the wizard (after all, she did have ‘reset’ abilities and could romance different routes), but even those were never overtly confirmed like how previous Cheritz games revealed plot in their prior games.

Me personally, having played all their previous games? I wanted to see MM inter-connected, and even head-canonned that it was. But none of the theories in the fandom made sense. I figured that so many new players in MM didn’t play previous games, that it may be vaguely hinted at at-most. But I still always wished that Cheritz would allow MM to elude to their meta ulterior-plot, if only because I loved a good meta storyline in games.

Cut to the new V After Ending and Rika’s backstory DLC.

This sort of setting falls in-line with the ‘wish’ dynamic of Dandelion and Nameless. Two examples:

Both showcased a Wizard making another person’s wish come true. Even in Nameless’s case, where the other person ended up being corrupted in their wish.

But in Dandelion, the Wizard gave up his powers. That plot point appeared at the very end of Nameless, where that same Wizard who was helping another character, Nameless himself, disappeared after having his own wish granted. It felt as if the super-powered character speaking to Rika wasn’t this same Wizard, but someone in the same realm of ulterior story. Whether it is the same timeline of the previous to games or just vaguely inter-connected, I think Chertiz did a great job at introducing a supernatural character that both linked MM to the previous two games, without confusing fans that had never played either of the past two games.

This character was different. They’re a girl-voice and gentle soul. Hell, maybe the fans who thought the MC was inter-connected was right, or maybe this god-like character is just another wizard in the realm. I don’t want to assume. Either way, she has a much more innocent approach to wishes than the Wizard in the last two games, but still just the same seeks to help Rika reach her desperate wish.