Hello, I recently started following you and I apologize if this was already asked. But in all honesty did you like V's after ending? I regret so much playing it, I feel like it tainted the whole game to me. Plot wise after story was ok for me, but I hate how we are forced to forgive Rika and her actions.
I was mostly disappointed tbh. Now mind you, this is completely 100% my personal opinion, so if you enjoyed his after end and disagree with me, that’s valid. To each their own.
My opinions under the cut since it is going to be a little long.
What I liked:
I’ll go over the parts I did like first. I did like the moment with 707 and Vanderwood, was happy that Saeran was alive and the CGs were really pretty.
What I disliked:
1) Lack of Nuance
I sort of expected them to try to redeem Rika, but I did not expect it to be executed like that. The judge ending was incredibly condescending, and I hate how the options had no balance and were either “Rika was mentally ill. She did nothing wrong UwU” or “Rika needs to be burnt by a thousand suns and receive the death penalty”. It’s much more nuanced than that, and Cheritz seems so quick to dismiss the feelings of Yoosung, Saeyong and Jumin for not forgiving her immediately. Look, I understand Rika is mentally unstable and was raised under terrible circumstances, but letting her get off without any consequences considering the harm she’s done just because she had some encounter with God doesn’t make sense. That law does not work that way, and mind you, it’s not like I want a Rika torture porn (Like Cheritz would categories us), But she at least should be sent to a psychiatric ward/ Rehabilitation center under court law, and maybe in there, she might turn over a new leaf. It essentially boils down to “cool motive, still murder”
2) Glaring Plot holes
Now I’m not going to act like the plot of Mysme didn’t have plot holes from the start and fictional stuff like Zen’s psychic dreams, but some of them were really apparent in V’s after end. I’m relieved that saeran is alive, but how the heck did V even find him on time and ship him to Alaska? Mind you, at the time Ray blew up Mint Eye, V had not only been drugged but stabbed.
And as Rika calling out the Prime Minister is framed as a redemption arc, I honestly doubt that it would actually do anything. An easy rebuttal is that Rika has already been televised by the media to be 1) Mentally unstable, 2) a leader of a frickin cult 3) a manipulator, so i doubt Rika’s little TED talk would have convinced the public to impeach the PM. Mysme had plot inaccuracies from the get go (the whole timeline is kind of wonky) but the after end just magnified it by 10x.
Also Rika’s character in general? In the another story routes, even when you try to be understanding to her, she mocks you for trying to woobify her, telling you coldly that “she is not some sad girl to be saved” and seems to be aware of the harm her actions do, but does them anyway. And her saying she wanted to be a mother to Saeran, but in his route, it’s obvious she never liked him and saw him as second best compared to Saeyong, and thus treated him like absolute shit and destroying his self esteem. It seems Cheritz just changes Rika’s personality just to fit the plot
3) V’s Screen time
And not to mention how little V was in his own after end. I’m not made Rika is in it, since Rika is part of V’s backstory, like how they would not exclude Saeran from Saeyong’s after end/secret endings, but it is so weird how Rika essentially hijacked his after end. There was so many things to give closure for V’s route, such as repairing the trust between V and the RFA members from holding secrets, and possibly developing V and MC’s relationship (Given it wasn’t developed much in his own route) Halfway through, I almost thought it was Rika’s DLC.
4) It’s all due to mental illness!
Now, I’ve played a fair deal of otome/VN, and most of the time, Mental illness is not portrayed accurately or is used as a trope. I’m not looking at Cheritz for a webMD definition of mental illness, and that’s how I wasn’t super mad over the portrayal of BPD in Ray;s route. I’m sort of used to wonky interpretations of mental illnesses, but wow the “Mental illness was completely to blame” stance just grinds my gears. Rika’s actions included things such as starting a cult, brainwashing a child, and stabbing people. Saying that “She couldn’t help to do those things because of her mental illness” portrays people with mental illnesses as a ticking time bomb, that they are inherently dangerous as they can do such abhorrent things out of their control. There are many posts talking about this in depth, so I’ll just end this here. Tldr: I enjoyed bits of the after end, but overall I was just disappointed. Instead of being satisfied, I just felt more empty and confused.
V’s After end just reminds me of this ProZD skit