Welcome back Mystic Messenger Trash, a column where I tell about a game Mystic Messenger For the first time. The following contains spoilers for the Rika Behind Story DLC, along with mentions of her showing in other tracks in a broader way. Content warning for mentions of sexual assault and parental abuse, and a brief discussion of suicidal ideas and depression.
Well, folks, it’s been an age since I brought you another spicy take here Mystic Messenger Garbage – an era where we started wearing face masks on a daily basis and where capitalism finally started to fall apart, man. Maybe. Not really. how is that related Mystic Messenger? Well, originally, the plague meant I could play on the V track at last, and then I did that and realized that in order to talk about V, I had to talk about empty first. (Note: I will discuss what we learn about V in Behind Story in a section on his track, as he puts the track in context.)
During the game, the actor learns some key details about Rika: Yosong’s aunt and uncle adopted her, she had a dog, she was active in a church community, she was attracted to V’s sun description, and she believes she saves / helps people through Mint Eye. To elaborate on her character, Cheritz has released a DLC series called Rika Behind Story. Available by the hourglass, each of the eight episodes describes part of Rika’s background story, told by Rika while she is in therapy during her engagement to V. While I was playing, I was surprised to find myself looking for a character I found previously shallow, a stigmatized description of the meaning of depression … although I still have concerns on this front. Below is an incorrect summary of what we learn in Rika Behind Story.
Empty behind the story: The story
Rika Behind Story opens with an older Rika who tells the story of Mina (Rika herself), 3 years old, talking to Mika, 6 years old. They are still not in an orphanage, but somewhere, somewhere mediator; Mika was supposed to be sent to an orphanage due to her age, but is good with the babies and wants to adopt with Mina as nurses. However, Mina is adopted – against her will – by a woman knocking a Bible instead, despite Mika’s intuition that the woman will be a bad parent.
Fuck this guy.
Ten or more years pass to expose the unfortunate Mina, whose name was changed to “Serena” by her adoptive parents. (While it seems like a name and identity reluctantly given to her, the narrative and emptiness itself use “Serena” throughout this part.) Her mother believes Serena is influenced by the devil and sends her to the priest for “cleansing.” Serena tries to convince her mother that the priest is sexually abusing her, but her mother does not believe her and instead insists it is a ritual to condemn the devil. (Adult Rika sees this as the moment her “devil” is sown within her, especially when everyone, from her classmates to her parents, finds her “chilling.”) Serena tries to interrupt the sermon to expose the priest’s abuse and the hypocrisy of the god of fire and brimstone; He chases her out, declaring she’s possessed, and Serena’s mother condemns her to her knees because they’re not related to blood. Serena decides to defend herself by embracing her inner devil. Claiming the devil speaks to her, Serena uses her mother’s faith against her to get her way, including keeping Sally, the stray dog she finds; She later reflects that keeping her devil close and deliberately reinforcing her mother’s fears is the way she can make sure her needs are met.
Between these events, Serena reunites with Mika when the father of the former is in the hospital; She learns there that Mika has incurable eye cancer. Although they called each other sisters, Serena realizes that the two can never be completely honest with each other about how bad their lives are – with Mika dying, and with Serena’s abuse. Instead, Serena reflects on how adults give up on things they do not like, and vows not to abandon even a piece of junk.
Serena changes her name to Rika and begins volunteering at a church separate from the church her mother attends. She is attracted to people who need her help (such as Sayong) but shy away from those who are not (like Yusong). Two years into it, she sees one of V’s exhibitions for the first time, and reflects, “My dedication [to others] It is an unhealthy attachment that originates in the dark [of not being loved by her parents]. “Eventually, the two meet and after entering into a somewhat tumultuous relationship, get engaged. (I will discuss the details we learn in the work on the track of V.)
Despite a happy whistle for a while, she fears that the devil who protects her inner child will “melt and die” while with V. She moves into her own apartment, where Mika lives, who still lives inexplicably. Mika does not trust V and plans to keep Rika’s devil using Saeran to steal RFA information instead of protecting it. She convinces Rika that love is fickle, and only power can protect someone – a force in the form of her plan to create a mint eye, and make Rika lead her in her place. Rika says to herself, “I’m not normal. I know Mika is abnormal. But demons can not abandon each other.”
Hmmm really?
The beautiful thing about describing Rika’s childhood is that we finally have a full story about what happened to this injured young woman who decided to become a cult leader and drug addicts to ensure their happiness. Learning about the background of her abuse makes Rika a sympathetic person, as it gives context to her decisions that were previously lacking. As I mentioned earlier, while playing, I found myself wishing Rika to find the happiness she deserves, one without toxic or unreliable people, one where she feels confident that there will be days when nothing feels right. I wanted Whistle to find a space where she could heal from everything that had happened to her and figure out what kind of life she wanted to lead.
But what happens is that in an empty redemption, we have now demonized another young woman – Mika – in the same way. (For the sake of clarity, later in this section, I will only refer to Rika by that name.) Although as a child, Mika protects Rika, she is also jealous of how potential parents are more interested in younger people. Boy, trying to get a woman to adopt Rika to adopt her instead. While at the hospital, Mika claims she tried to do so to protect Rika, feeling that her mother would be abusive, but she also admits her jealousy of her family and Rika’s educational opportunities, as Mika was never adopted. Until we get back to Mika in the last episode, we see a woman maneuvering her only girlfriend to keep her close: V is worried about “destroying” Rika because she is “weak”, Mika is the one who convinces Rika to stay away from V; Mint Eye is Mika’s creation, and her idea is to use the anti-RFA storm to gather information and build their “kingdom”.
Do they even look the same ??
Thus, the characteristics we know of emptiness from other pathways — being secretive, manipulative, and jealous of others — we see as originating in another. Mika is bitter, angry and resentful about her attitude, not vanishing, but from the whole world and the adults who did not care for her. Although we know Rika’s traumas, we do not have Mika’s full story; We only know that the emptiness we see as the leader of the Mint Eye has adopted not only Mika’s beliefs about a cruel world, where love can grow only out of fear, but even her manners. Even if Mint Eye Rika now makes sense, it’s only because another character has been introduced in which we can blame Rika’s “worst” behaviors. In reality, Mika has the same problems as Rika: a young woman suffering from mental health struggles is demonized for them by the narrative.
Part of the problem is the combination of mental illness with “devil”. The interpretation is, perhaps, about the world at large and its cruelty to those who are not what society expects of them, but what does it mean that the only two descriptions of psychiatric disabilities are found in these two women? What does it mean that Whistle sees both herself and Mika as “abnormal,” and a doctor tells her that she has a burden on those around her? (As I mentioned earlier, in the middle of Rika’s way behind the story, we learn that Rika tells while in therapy. Although she is being treated with medication, she is told to repeat that “the longer your illness stays with you, the harder things are for the people around you.” Rika reflects what she calls Her mental illness may be rooted in childhood trauma, but does not break these thoughts down further.)
Narratives of psychiatric disabilities often have this thread, the fear that we are a burden on the people in our lives. During the worst days of my depression, my suicidal ideas involved the idea that if I no longer existed, then I would no longer put my problems on the ones I loved. How awful it was to hear from my therapist or psychiatrist that indeed, really, because of depression, stressed those around me. I’ve already criticized the way mental health is dealt with on Yusong’s track, and it’s no better here, where Rika feels isolated and demonized because of something out of her control. Even when she asks for help – something that is not clear in the other tracks – this idea is reinforced, and does not really seek to help her dismantle and understand her defense mechanism in the form of a “devil”.
For actors to know, Rika will continue to build a cult and actively harm people in the name of maintaining their safety, sending a message that people with psychiatric disabilities are dangerous, or can become such, especially because of these disabilities. In a game world that is supposed to reflect ours, or at least, similar to it, this message bothers me.
Does this reflect a cultural difference in dealing with psychiatric disabilities? Maybe. It does not excuse the half-sympathetic, half-contemptuous view, of depression, a disability that affects millions of people in the U.S. alone, not to mention South Korea and other countries that have access to this game. I am again reminded of its popularity: Mystic Messenger There are millions of downloads, and Mystic Messenger Garbage remains one of the most popular columns here on Sidequest. (That does not mean that everyone agrees with my assumptions, but people have feelings about this game.) A lot of people see Mystic MessengerNotices of mental illness, purposeful or incidental. Even if Schritz does not deliberately try to make connections between, say, the devil and psychiatric disabilities, those connections still exist. In order for Whistle to store a devil whose mother believes he is the devil tells the actors a living whistle in a world or society that not only does not understand it or try, but does demonize it in an active and real way. For actors to know, Rika will continue to build a cult and actively harm people in the name of maintaining their safety, sending a message that people with psychiatric disabilities are dangerous, or can become such, especially because of these disabilities. In a game world that is supposed to reflect ours, or at least, similar to it, this message bothers me.
Let it be clear, Mystic Messenger He’s a game I really like, even with his problems. I recommend it to many, and I call myself M.M. Garbage for some reason. But this does not absolve Schritz or any developer from the responsibility to present psychiatric disorders with caution and compassion, nor in a tone of distrust and danger.
Read the rest of the Mystic Messenger Trash series.
By day, the editor-in-chief of Sidequest, Naseem Jamnia, used to do scientific things, but now they are slamming their keyboards and calling it art. At night they play a lot of video games. And regardless of time, they spend too much of it on Twitter, @jamsternazzy.