Rikaâs Behind Story, Vâs After Ending and rant about the fandom
I havenât been on Tumblr since Wednesday evening because in case I might spoil myself. I wanted to play without reading what other people thought about it. Now Iâm done with both and read through a bit that has happened over the past 2 days and IâmâŠfeeling unsettled.
I played Rikaâs Behind Story first bc I thought it might be important for the After Ending and I wasnât disappointed. At some points Vâs After Ending only makes sense when you played Rikaâs DLC. Especially when it came to Mika (who I first thought was Rika, but nope.) I admit, I donât like Rika. At all. Which most likely happens when you love the twins and especially Saeran (heâs my baby boy and I love him #sorrynotsorry). Still, I wanted to know why she became the person she was, probably to blame her some more for her actions. We got parts of her past in Another Story in general and I wanted to know more. And I must say: I now understand why Yoosungâs mother doesnât like her own sister.
What I was confused about were Mika and Mina. They look like siblings but arenât. Iâll try not to write any spoiler for it, just my opinion. With Mika we have another character we can blame for Rikaâs actions. Sometimes I thought Mika is just a figment of Rikaâs mind, an imagination but nope. From what we learn in Rikaâs Behind Story and Vâs After Ending Rika got manipulated, abused and whatnot from her so called parents, her pastor and her so called âsisterâ. Itâs not an excuse for what she did and I will never forgive her for what she did but I have a better understanding of her character. People here on Tumblr say itâs just an excuse for her shitty behavior but arenât we doing the same with Saeran? Saeranâs route was ⊠Letâs say even I got disturbed by one of his bad endings. But most of us also excuse his shitty and abusive behavior because of his past. Because itâs not his fault heâs like that. Itâs Rikaâs fault. But itâs not Rikaâs fault she had a twisted imagination of love and everything. âŠWow, that sounds a lot like an excuse. I think I might stop here because people are going to hate me for this, lol.
So, what I didnât like about her Behind Story was ⊠in fact Mika. I donât like her. As I see it it started all with her, affected Rika and then Saeran. But as I see it, Cheritz made a past for her that explains why she founded Mint Eye. Why she wanted to be the Savior.
Back to Vâs After Ending. Yes, itâs fucking expensive. Yes, itâs not all about V but I like the way they made it. With Vâs good end we find out V was gone for two years before he came back (as a hippie) and asks the player to stay with him. Sure, Cheritz could make it like the other After Endings, a continuation of the Good Ending but I canât be the only one who was curious why V was gone for so long and what happened after Mint Eye got blown up. And we got an answer. Sure, calling it After Ending might be confusing because he doesnât continue from the very end of the Good Ending but itâs connected. Plus we got some part of an After Ending with Lucy.
I understand why people here on Tumblr, who like V, are upset about it because a lot of the After Ending was about Rika. Gonna ask you a question: Were you upset too because most of Vâs route was about Rika too? Rika plays a heavy part in Vâs life, they were engaged once. We canât forget about it. Rika is important to V and yes, like Cheritz did, if you want to tell the story between the âend of his routeâ and the moment he came back two years later, Rika has to play a bigger part than most of you want.
Of course there are things I didnât like about his After Ending, like the Judge and Forgive system. I was okay with only one ending. Sure, I kind of like both but ⊠It was expensive to reset the whole thing too. Whatever. There are also things I loved about his After Ending and itâs the closure we got for the twins. I stayed in denial that Ray died back at Mint Eye and Iâm glad I didnât give up hope for him. It was one of the moments I definitely cried a lot. Which leads me to the whole Saeran/V controversial. Letâs just say Iâm not a fan of this ship. Have never been, will never be. Yes, I thought the scene between them was gay as fuck but then I remembered what we knew about them from Saeranâs route.
Saeran admired V. He loved him like a father heâs never had before. V was the one who told him he was allowed to name the flower, that being weak wasnât a bad thing, that he wanted to take him on a trip to take pictures and everything. V gave him the love he needed. Now imagine how Saeran must have felt after Rikaâs manipulation, after V had left. Saeran lost his father figure, lost his trust in him and thought he lost the love he got from V before. The love of a parent. I personally donât think Rika and Saeran were so close, though Rika seemed to be the one talking to Saeran more. I think his bond to V was a lot stronger. And it shows after he got rescued that all he wanted was for V to love him like he used to when he was a child. Saeran realized Rika didnât âloveâ him the way he needed and wanted. So, to me, Vâs and Saeranâs relationship is more like a father-son one and not romantic. Sure, I donât blame anyone who ships it but itâs nothing I would ship.
What I do blame people for is being rude fucking assholes. People are complaining they didnât want an After Ending like this, they stop supporting Cheritz because it didnât go their way. Guess what? Life isnât a bowl of cherries. Yes, it was expensive, yes, V was barely in the After Ending. Yes, maybe itâs not like you imagined it. But does it justify your rude behavior to Cheritz?
Not. At. All.
Cheritz is trying to give us more content because the Mystic Messenger fandom is ⊠letâs say pretty demanding and annoying. All the fandom does is take but when the content we get for a game they created isnât what you wanted, then you start blaming Cheritz and threaten them to stop playing and buying things. Well. Do it. Stop playing. Stop buying things. But donât blame Cheritz because you wanted to have the game in a different way. If you want it to, then create your own. Go on. Do it. Think about a story, a whole world, about characters. Itâs not that easy, right? Itâs a lot of work.
Sometimes I think people forget they donât own the characters. You donât own the game. Cheritz does. And what people, who I see complaining here forget about, is the work in the Behind Story and After Ending. Dialogue had to be written, CGâs to be drawn, voices to be recorded. A lot of work got into the DLC and AE and you can especially see it in the work of the voice actors. They poured their heart into it. They acted in a way that made us feel with the characters (and yes, I cried. More than once).
What you do is just whine like a child whose parents doesnât want to give their favorite candy and when they get another one they pout because they didnât want it. Itâs rude, unrespectful and downright shitty assholish behavior. Cheritz doesnât have to give us new content. Cheritz didnât have to listen when the fandom demanded a V and Saeran route. But they did because they love us. Because they see the game helps people with their own problems, let it be to take care of yourself, to eat, to make sure to sleep, ⊠I can go on and on with this, but I think I might stop here. Canât wait for people to tell me how shitty I am for telling the truth ;) Go ahead. Iâm waiting and go and paint a bit.
