Dealing with backlog: Mystic Messenger

This is a smartphone otome game tbh. I played it for the first time in 2017 and for my first time I did it all on instinct and I chose my responses as how I personally preferred to answer and I ended up with Yoosung. The guys in the game represents all the common tropes/stereotypes of otome games, but tbh I actually really liked the whole mystery/detective/thriller theme to the game that's underneath all the dating stuff.

When I played Yoosung's story it became obvious that 707 was the heart of the story, which usually means getting his ending would mean getting the true ending. Unfortunately for me 707 was part of the Deep Story, which only unlocked after getting to the ending of the three characters in the Casual Story. At the time in 2017 this felt like too much of a hassle, but here I am two years later and now I've spent two weeks with this game playing through all the routes!

Casual Story
The game starts with you finding a phone with a messenger app and a person shown as Unknown in the chat room asks you to go to a certain apartment and give this phone back to its owner. He can't do it himself for whatever reason. If you persistently decline this invitation you'll get a bad ending. Be the gullible fool and go along with his proposition and you find yourself in an apartment chatting to 6 guys and 1 woman. All of whom are part of an organisation called the RFA (Rika's Fundraising Association) who does charity work and funraising events. The messenger is confidential and you've been allowed access by a hacker. Nobody knows why, but since the messenger and a lot of the information held by the RFA is confidential everyone suspects foul play. But since you're now in and have access to all of this information you get enrolled as the new party coordinator and tasked with organising a new RFA party. The first one in 2 years. The last one was held before Rika, the founder and former party coordinator, killed herself.

Yoosung: Yoosung is a 21-year-old college student who absolutely loves gaming. He's representing the young and cute trope. He's very innocent, very sensitive and very emotional. Basically he's very young. And throughout most of his route he's a fun and happy person, until it becomes apparant that the PC is in danger and he steps up, mans up and grows up a lot in a few short days. He joins 707 on his personal quest to find the hacker responsible for everything and while doing so Yoosung finds a lot of questionmarks concerning 707´s past and current life. Questions that makes the player keep on playing to find the answers. Yoosung is a cousin to Rika and they were very close. He was more devastated than most when she killed herself and so a lot of the things that get uncovered while playing has a very big effect on him.

Zen: Zen fills the trope of the super-handsome narcissist. He's a budding actor and model and his romance is by far the steamiest and most passionate and lovey-dovey. I had absolutely the most fun playing his route. Except for the actual romance parts this route plays out pretty much exactly the same as Yoosung's route when it comes to the main story. The main difference being that while Yoosung and the PC don't get to meet until the actual party, the PC actually gets to meet Zen and stay with him while things are at their most dangerous. Zen's personal story is one of celebrity scandal and how he decides to deal with it. It seems exaggerated at times, but perfectly fit the image that tabloids try to sell us every day IRL. In every single other route from Zen's, Zen always makes sure to ask the PC if she's being treated well and that nothing untoward is being done to her. He's 100% gentlemanly with her both in his own and everyone else's paths, and still manages to be the steamiest and most passionate route of them all.

Jaehee: Jaehee takes the spot for the friendship ending. Most otome games have a friendship ending, but I don't understand why since nobody I know plays these games to find a friend. Jaehee is overworked by her boss and with the PC's help she manages to break out of it and quit her job and start doing something she really enjoys. Jaehee is my spirit animal, but her route is the safest and most boring to play. It also plays out exactly like Yoosung's route where the main story is concerned.







Deep Story
The Deep Story starts off the same way as the Casual Story but soon changes rhythm and becomes more fastpaced, while keeping a lot of the core elements from the Casual Story. It also offers a lot more clues to what's really going on in the background concerning V, Rika and, of course, 707.

Jumin: Jumin is the rich boy trope. As I didn't get a bad ending I can't be sure, but his path gives me hostage situation vibes, and it feels a bit like mild Stockholm Syndrome or setup for abuse to play his path. I like Jumin in the other characters' paths, but in his own he becomes possessive, suspicious and overbearing. What happened to the Jumin I know and like? This isn't him! The main story in Jumin's route offers shock value as the final pieces of the puzzle start to fit together.

707: Seven, my sweet adorable Seven. I was right in thinking that it all came down to Seven in the main story. In Seven's route he decides to come over to the apartment once things become dangerous and spend most of the route in the same room as the PC. However he's reluctant to let himself fall in love or even be loved due to his life situation. It all comes together in the end. Seven is funny and a total joker and also a complete genius. When he loves he loves deeply, but never sacrificially so. Seven's route ties together the main story and it all falls into place. This route is 100% worthy of being the true ending and this is absolutely my favourite path of them all.





Another Story
This is unlocked after you complete the Deep Story. This is an alternate version of events which takes place 2 years earlier. Only 6 months after Rika's death. Many of the events in this version are the same as in the original version but they play out completely different. The PC is approached in a messenger by a hacker originally called Unknown, but who later goes by the name of Ray. Ray claims himself to be a game developer and would like her to go to a certain place and stay there while she's testing a game. The objective of the game is to host a party and to romance the guys in the game. She's added to the messenger and things go from there, with the added twist that the PC is convinced that all the people in the messenger are pre-programmed AIs until the game's 4th day.

V: V fits yet another trope; the pained one. He has a pained past in being Rika's fiancé up until her death. But he's involved in so many complicated things that he's keeping hidden from the other members of the RFA. Getting him to open up and confide in the PC is hard work. He's very philosophical and artsy and tbh I got sick and tired of reading all his philosophical ramblings. But beneath that he's very sweet, but unsure how to go about life and love. Rika was his only previous experience of love and as both the Deep Story and this route tells us Rika was mentally ill and V unequipped to deal with it properly. It feels very rewarding to finish this route and get him to move on and be happy.

Ray: Ray is dangerous and mentally disturbed due to the circumstances of his life. Which is another trope. Ray suffers from a split personality, but both personalities are aware of each other. Ray's route plays out pretty much exactly like V's route but from the opposite perspective. Ray is an odd option for a romance. One personality is childlike and invokes the desire to shield and protect, while the other is aggressive and threatening. The incessant care of the PC brings the two personalities together and basically cures him and lets him become a whole person. He's an interesting character, but really an odd choice for a romance option and I much prefer him the way he is in 707's path.




I decided to not play any of the DLCs because I actually regretted playing Another Story. 707's path was a perfect ending to the game and in hindsight I would've preferred to keep it that way.