136 | in which I start playing Never Alone, & finish the April Fool's Event in Mystic Messenger

[straightforwardly]

► So, a few days back I got the final ending for the Mystic Messenger April Fool’s Day Event.

Here’s my initial reaction (and also the only notes I took):

ZEN I FORGIVE YOU FOR EVERYTHING ;_;

So, yeah. It was pretty good— probably my favorite of the three endings, actually. It does walk the line between being gimmicky and being genuinely good, but for me, it fell firmly into the “good” side.

It kind of reminded me of some variations on the reset theory, except with Zen instead of Seven, and with Zen not actually being aware of the loops. I am glad that it didn’t quite reach the “Zen realizes he’s fictional territory”— that might have been too gimmicky for me— but I did like his realization that he and the MC aren’t in the same “dimension”. Honestly, if I’d played this at the height of my Zen-love (which was when I first started playing this game), that final VN portion probably would have made me cry? As things are, I was definitely still touched by it. And those chats;;;;

A few things I particularly liked:

During a chat:

Zen: “Everything you told me---did you mean it?”

MC Answer Options:

• That’s not important. I’m just here to have fun.
• Whatever I said, I was always true.
• I have lied a couple times so that you’d like me more.

I went with the second option, because everything about this was making me wibble and I didn't want to make him feel worse, but I am curious about how he reacts to the other options as well.

When I called him, I got this voicemail: “This is actor Zen. I am currently unavailable. Or actually---thank you for calling me from a different world---I’m sorry I can’t pick up.”

Then, when I reached the VN portion:

When Zen said, “I want to get to know you better---but it’s sad that all your answers are already determined.”, it strongly reminded me of a moment from this fic.

I’ll just leave this here: “I’ll always be here so that you can come see me whenever you want---use me.”

Finally, I felt really guilty when he said, “I’m sure you think of me from time to time during your day”— because while I do think about this game from time to time during the day, it’s usually in relation to 1) a random fic bunny, or 2) Seven. Sorry, Zen;;;;;

► After I finished with that event, I began working on Jumin’s Bad Endings, starting with Bad Ending 02. But first, I want to share a couple of lines from some phone calls? Since starting Seven’s route, I’ve been trying to call the other characters more often, since, you know, I do have the unlimited calling cards for all of them, so I’ve been getting some phone calls that I didn’t get the first time through.

First, there was this line, from Jumin: “What do you think about restraint? I think passion and respect are important in a relationship but there should also be some degrees of duty and restraint. That way you can feel safe.”

I bring it up for two reasons:

1.) It really does say a lot about him and his approach to relationships.
2.) Being in a relationship with him sounds like my worst nightmare. ._.

And then there was this, from Yoosung: “I...was like that too so I understand how he feels. If you lose something important, you become nervous that you’ll lose everything else too. It’s scary how much Jumin reminds me of my past, so I’m really worried.”

Between Yoosung relating to Jumin, and Yoosung hinting that he’s fully aware of bad his coping mechanisms are, this definitely got a “;_; YOOSUNG” reaction out of me.

As for the actual bad ending… it worked? I’d already picked up via osmosis that it involved a heavy D/s relationship between Jumin and the MC, but I was genuinely surprised that the CG did not involve the MC in the cage. I suppose the chains on her shoes + the GPS were similar, but still… I feel a bit cheated by that, haha. Still, it was a fun ending, so I can’t complain too much. I don’t have much more to say about it.

I’m working on Jumin’s Bad Ending 03 now, and will probably go back for his Bad Ending 01 next, before moving on to Seven’s* bad endings.

*...There is no way those aren’t going to hurt really badly. I’m not sure if I’m going to be ready for it. ._.

► In other gaming news… I’ve started playing Never Alone. It’s not really surprising that I’d be interested in this game— I remember that when I first saw an ad for this game some years back, I was in Walmart, and I just stood in front of the screen staring a while and thinking, this game was made for me. Mainly because foxes and snowy winter settings are two of my favorite things. And it has a female protagonist, too! I snatched it up during one of the Steam sales— don’t remember which one anymore— and have been sitting on it ever since.

I actually started playing it now because Steam sent me an email telling me that another fox-related game on my wishlist, Seasons After Fall, is on sale. I...really want to play it, but can’t really justify buying another game right now, even when it’s so cheap. But then I remembered that, while I’m not sure if I could justify buying another game, I did already have Never Alone.

My feelings about it… are a little mixed? Working out the puzzles is fun, and I loved watching the little fox run around. So cute. ♥ But I did not expect the game to involve so much being chased by things. I hate being chased by things in games. ._. If it weren’t for those chase scenes/some of the other timed puzzles, though, I’d unreservedly love this game! As things stand, though, I keep having to take breaks when the chasing/timed sequences (by which I’m referring to the bit with the trees in Chapter 8, btw) start to stress me out too much.

I’m also a bit disappointed by what happened with the fox at the end of Chapter 6. I’m here for the adventures of a girl and her fox, not a girl and her human-shaped spirit! I know it’s technically the same character, but I still miss the little fox so much. I haven’t finished the game yet, though, so maybe my feelings about that particular thing will change with later developments? We’ll see.