History YMMV / MysticMessenger

* EvilIsSexy: Overlapping with DracoInLeatherPants; some fans' enthusiastic reactions to several of the bad endings, where characters act in ''very'' morally questionable ways, is made of this. In particular, [[spoiler: Jumin, Saeran, and Rika get this treatment from fans in their respective bad endings the most.]]

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Some people are confused as to whether [[spoiler:Vanderwood]] is female or male. During the first four days of Deep Story, Seven uses female pronouns, [[spoiler:until it's revealed that he was most likely lying to hide the truth behind who Vanderwood really is because of his job.]] However, in the Secret Endings and Christmas DLC, Seven continues to use female pronouns, and the translated ''RFA VIP Guidebook'' does as well (though the latter was corrected in future translations to refer to him as male.)

** After getting a chance to interact with [[EnsembleDarkhorse Vanderwood]] in V's route, many fans were hoping for more involvement in Ray's. To their disappointment, Vanderwood [[spoiler:barely appears, never interacts with the protagonist, and is heavily implied to be dead after his capture alongside Seven. That's not counting his [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse fate]] in the good ending]].

** The fact that Jaehee's main route ends with a PseudoRomanticFriendship instead of a more obviously romantic relationship. People who aren't bothered by this tend to note that it's understandable since [[ValuesDissonance Korea is still taking "baby steps" when it comes to depicting same-sex relationships]], while others are annoyed by this, with some going so far as to accuse the game of [[BaitAndSwitchLesbians queerbaiting]]. The base broke further after the release of V's route, which has [[spoiler:a bad ending in which the player can enter a relationship with ''Rika'' that is more overtly romantic than Jaehee's good ending. That also added some level of UnfortunateImplications, since the only same-sex relationship in the game is [[{{Yandere}} obviously unhealthy]] and involves a mentally unstable villain]].

* FanNickname: "Rayran" for Unknown, ever since the reveal in Another Story that he [[spoiler:has two personalities: Ray and Saeran]]. Similarly, [[spoiler: the Saeran of days 7-9 of his route]] is often called [[spoiler: "Suit Saeran" ot "Dark Saeran"]] by the fandom.

* FanNickname: "Rayran" for Unknown, ever since the reveal in Another Story that he [[spoiler:has two personalities: Ray and Saeran]]. Similarly, [[spoiler: the Saeran of days 7-9 of his route]] is often called [[spoiler: suit Saeran]] by the fandom.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: A line of choice you can pick in day four of Another story is "I can’t imagine what will befall if Seven’s cosplay photos are released T-T". [[spoiler: Later in Ray's route, Seven was kidnapped together with Vanderwood by his father after an interrogation with Zen who had those photos, and by his normal ending and good ending, is missing (With the heavy implication that he's dead in the former)]].

** Unknown[[spoiler: /Ray/Saeran]] has a lot of very blatant mental health issues. He has an extreme fear of abandonment, incredibly low self-esteem, is incredibly neurotic and prone to intense mood shifts, has displayed suicidal tendencies; has often unstable and intense relationships which often alternate between strong idealization and devaluation (most notably, his relationships with [[spoiler: Saeyoung, MC, Rika, and V)]], showcases extreme beliefs, has shown a capability to do cruel actions towards others with seemingly little to no remorse (especially in bad endings in Casual Story and Deep Story, though he does have these moments in Another Story too), mentioned to often feeling empty, a poor sense of personal identity (to the point that [[spoiler: Rika, with the assistance of drugs, was able to convince him that he actually had two personalities)]], and showcases a lot of paranoia and dissociative symptoms. Additionally, he had a [[spoiler: very traumatic upbringing of being sickly and frequently abused as a child with little exposure to the outside world, terrified that his politically-important father would try to kidnap and kill him and Saeyoung, and beliving his brother (who had promised to always stay with him) had abandoned him due to seeing him as a burden, learned that his mother died (who a part of him still loved, despite how abusive she was), and then later forced into Rika's cult.]] And then there's looking at the [[spoiler: behavior of his known biological family, such as his identical twin brother Saeyoung (whose issues, while not as severe as Saeran's, does consist of a lot of deep insecurities and depressive tendencies), his mother (a short-tempered and abusive alcoholic), and his father (very relentless and is willing to hurt and kill for the sake of protecting his reputation, with seemingly little-to-no remorse.)]] In canon, there is not much said about what exactly his issue is [[spoiler:(in Secret 2, a doctor says he has a "mild mental disorder," but no specific diagnosis is given.)]] A lot of fans believe he likely has major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and/or borderline personality disorder (the last of which [[spoiler: Saeran's]] own voice actor has and also interprets [[spoiler: Saeran]] as having.)

* CriticalResearchFailure: One of the organizations you can invite to the party is a group that makes pancakes for cats. They ask you which option would be a better pancake topping: silvervine (a catnip alternative) or dried squid. Choosing squid grants a 'Failure' email... but despite its pleasurable effects on cats, silvervine shouldn't be put on ''any'' cat food, let alone pancakes. Thankfully, the guest does mention that they can't use the actual plant (just the fragrance) if you respond correctly.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** After some fans complained about Jaehee's route being the only one that doesn't have an explicitly romantic ending, [[spoiler:her route in the Christmas DLC ends with the player giving a sleeping Jaehee a kiss on the cheek, with the option of telling her "One day... I'm going to tell you how I truly feel..."]]. In the Valentine's DLC, the two of them [[spoiler:get [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything locked in a storage closet and come out of it at the end]]]].
** A common complaint about Yoosung's route (as well as his overall character) is that he constantly mentions Rika. In his ending in the Christmas DLC, he apologizes for talking about her too much and promises to focus on the player.
** Many players were upset that Zen and Yoosung got LockedOutOfTheLoop regarding the events of the secret endings; in V's route, they get all of the details. [[spoiler:Yoosung ''does'' spend a lot of time [[ImplausibleDeniability in denial and making excuses for Rika]], but in V's good ending, he finally has to come to terms with how much harm she's done and stop her from dosing the party guests with her elixir]].
** Quite a lot of fans are annoyed at Yoosung's harsh behavior at V. [[spoiler:In V's and Ray's routes, he is able to come to terms and understand why V acted the way he did]].

* IdiotPlot: Completely [[AvertedTrope averted]] for the main plot itself, but the beginning of V and Ray's route requires the protagonist to be [[TooDumbToLive astronomically stupid]] in order to kick off the story. [[spoiler: After receiving a strange app on her phone, she talks to a complete stranger through the messenger, gives him her address, gets into the car that this stranger sends to her address, ''puts on a blindfold that the driver of the car gives to her'', and then follows the stranger from the messenger into a mansion that she's never been to before in an unknown location. Having any basic self-preservation skills shunts you into a Bad Ending.]]

* LesYay:
** On her route, Jaehee says that her feelings aren't romantic but with calling just to hear your voice, talking about how she feels like you're more then a friend to her, and [[spoiler: asking the player to be her partner in her good end]] fans have taken the ball and run with it. Not to mention you yourself can act pretty much like her girlfriend, up to getting jealous that Zen gets to eat her cooking, or saying you'll stitch up the mouths of workers who gave her a hard time. [[spoiler:If you pursue her in the Christmas DLC, you finally get a RelationshipUpgrade.]]
** [[spoiler: Rika gets ''very'' touchy-feely with the MC in V's route, embracing her from behind and telling her how much she likes her. You have the option to return her affections, hugging her and sympathizing with her. The final CG in one of his Bad Endings even has the two girls lying in bed together in rather skimpy negligees, surrounded by yellow rose petals and faces close together enough to be an AlmostKiss. It's heavily implied that the MC has replaced V as Rika's lover, with the MC touching her while they're in bed together, and Rika talking about how good her touch feels. They also exchange some fairly [[{{Yandere}} unhealthy, possessive love confessions.]]]]

** Jumin. For many fans, he's a sympathetic [[DefrostingIceQueen Defrosting Ice King]] who learns how to open up emotionally on his route and helps out the RFA several times in other routes, but for others, he comes across as a [[{{Yandere}} disturbingly possessive]] BastardBoyfriend who continues to ignore/override the MC's wishes even after he acknowledges that his handling of their relationship hasn't been the best. Many people in the latter camp also dislike him for his treatment of [[BeleagueredAssistant Jaehee]].

** Overall, the first Secret Ending is nonstop TearJerker and PlayerPunch. However, some players have been highly distracted by [[spoiler:[[HandCannon the ridiculously huge pistol]] Saeran uses, because there is no way a frail IllBoy could possibly fire it (let alone shoot accurately, ''especially'' [[FiringOneHanded one-handed]]) without [[LawOfInverseRecoil smacking himself in the face]]]].

** I don't ''HAVE'' any eyes![[note]]The protagonist's eyes are always hidden by the angle or her BlindingBangs in [=CGs=], even when it looks like they ''should'' be visible. A common joke in the fandom is to yell that MC has no eyes if another character says her eyes are pretty or asks if she can see something.[[/note]]

** "Mary Vanderwood the 3rd", first referenced as Seven's maid (and represented by a photo of [[WholesomeCrossdresser Seven himself in drag]]), is actually [[spoiler:a secret agent in the same organization as Seven. Vanderwood gets incredibly snarky, highly entertaining interactions with Seven, and thus has become very popular in the fandom. This only increased after the release of V's route, with Vanderwood playing the much needed role of the OnlySaneMan amidst all the angst and chaos of the story. We were also given an opportunity to once chat with him directly (and even compliment his looks!), and the fans absolutely loved it since he turned out to be surprisingly friendly.]]

* FoeYay: Unknown is attracted to you and has even called you cute. [[spoiler:By answering his texts with the correct responses in the Christmas DLC, you can even trigger a bad ending where you can be with him!]] Aside from that, in V's route, [[spoiler:he becomes obsessed with you after you show kindness to him, to the point where he gets insanely jealous of you chatting with the RFA and begging you to stay with him when you tell him you want to leave.]]

** Jumin and Zen's constant bickering with each other can come across as BelligerentSexualTension or FoeYay in some places, like in the chat where Jumin asks Zen [[ItMakesSenseInContext if he's imagining his bed]]. In Zen's route, the scene where [[spoiler:Jumin meets him in the mountains and they make up]] can be interpreted as pretty shippy too. Special mention to this particular snippet of conversation:

** An even more common example is Seven x MC x [[spoiler:Unknown/Saeran]], because [[spoiler: as the two are brothers and live together in both the end of the Secret Ending and Saeran's (Good End) After Ending, it's inevitable that MC will remain close to both of them regardless of whom she chooses. Adding to that is the fact that Saeran seems to have a FoeYay crush on the MC in the original five routes and Seven is believed to love her in every route due to the popular Reset theory, and you can see where this is coming from.]]

** Unknown [[spoiler:(AKA Saeran) had a truly horrifying childhood, and it only got worse from there. He was physically frail, his abusive mother would often starve him and ''tie him up'' in the house as punishment for imagined bad behavior, and his politically-important father wanted him dead. He got a brief HopeSpot in his early teens when his twin (Seven/Saeyoung) left him in the care of V and Rika, only to have Rika drug him and twist his mind until he became convinced that Saeyoung and V had caused all of the pain in his life. By the time of the story, he's completely unhinged and [[MoreThanMindControl devoted to the idea of Rika's utopia]]. Even after Seven rescues him from Rika's cult, he's dangerously unstable and tries to kill Seven and [[DrivenToSuicide himself]] on multiple occasions. V's route woobifies him even ''more'', since Saeran's gentler Ray personality, the one you mostly interact with, is very attached to you and [[PleaseDontLeaveMe begs you not to leave him constantly]]. But, unless you go for a bad ending, you have no choice but to do exactly that, and the sheer amount of misery this puts him through is very hard to watch. Then there's the fact that Ray mentions being denied water in a very casual manner, and makes it quite clear that he doesn't mind you physically abusing him as long as you stay by his side, which indicates that he went through so much torture that things like that are ''normal'' to him now. And this time you can't save him, either, since in the normal and good endings of V's route he dies by [[DrivenToSuicide intentionally staying inside the Mint Eye's headquarters]] while detonating it. While his death is averted in his own route, it isn't any better as we get to see how he was brainwashed by Rika, the process traumatize him so much that he lost his sense of self, mistaking the weaker aspects of his personality as a split personality and all his anger as the "real" Saeran just because Rika said so]].

** In a chatroom with Yoosung and Jaehee during the Christmas DLC, you can comment that you think V is handsome. Yoosung will be distracted for a minute and agree that V is in fact attractive (even admiring his [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair distinctive hair]]) - before getting [[StupidSexyFlanders annoyed with himself]] and returning to the topic of his ''frustration'' with V.

* FanNickname: A large portion of the fandom refers to [[spoiler:Saeran from days 7-9]] of his route as [[spoiler: Suit Saeran.]] Canonically, in neither the game nor side material, is he ever referred to as this; he is usually referred to as just [[spoiler: Saeran, the real Saeran, or in at least one occasion by Saeran himself, cruel Saeran,]] and [[spoiler: it's implied that this version of him is supposed to be the Unknown of the Casual Story and Deep Story,]] yet much of the fanbase treats them as separate people.