I need to go to bed, but initial thoughts:
I like Magia Record a lot more. I'm having fun but I admit that I feel a little disappointed. I'm going to stick with it but I don't think I'll need to worry about whaling too much on this game.
The combat is growing on me. I prefer Magia Record's combat but I can see how Magidora is going to have more intricate stuff going on that won't just devolve into magia spam/blast spam. Maybe. I dunno? But it's fun and that's good enough. I do like the speed element of it over random disc selection, I think.
I don't really like the 3d bits but I can live with it. Folks keep saying how good the graphics look and to me it looks kinda ugly, but no one ever said I have good taste.
I don't particularly like how exploring labyrinths work. You're not even really exploring, just moving in a straight line looking for the occasional shiny. The labyrinth parts feel like an awkward in-between the content that matters, aka story and combat. I think I'd rather move between menu screens.
Uhhhh story wise.... Hmm. I think one problem I have is that the main story is literally just pmmm but an inferior visual novel version. If I want to read the pmmm story then I can go watch the anime or the movies or even the horrible comics. This doesn't really do it for me.
I'm also a little worried about upcoming event stories for spinoff girls. I straight up hated the Tart events in MR because a lot of them were an extended boring rehash of the manga and if I want to experience the story, I'd rather read the fucking manga, you know? For all the upcoming spinoffs: are they going to do their own thing with new stories like magia record did? Or are they going to be another visual novel version of the comics? Because god I don't really want to go through that???
It was also kind of depressing to get old characters I love, excitedly go to their magical girl stories, and then realize they're probably going to be rehashing what we already know. I mean, they're not copies of the originals and I can see how they might provide new context that we didn't have before, but something about it just makes me really sad.
I also REALLY miss having a homescreen character. There is so much charm in having a character on the homescreen, selecting their outfit, getting excited over new poke quotes. And being able to change your homescreen in general. Getting a new character in magia record wasn't just exciting cause new character but also because you got to put them on the homescreen and see what they were about, you know? Like these are their poke quotes, here are their outfits, look at all their lil animations! I miss it so much. Getting a new character does not feel that exciting to me at all ;_;
Something I never thought about before, but I hate how dark all the menu screens are. MagiReco menus had a lot of color and variations and they weren't just the same dark gray background repeated over and over.
Like look at this. Where's the color? I feel sad looking at this OTL
I think all of this kind of culminates in: it feels like some of my favorite aspects of magireco were taken away, mainly the character-focused nature of it. I'm not going to say Magireco was the pinnacle of writing but it was what drew me to the story in the first place and it's not here.
Last negative thought-- I have absolutely no idea how a person who doesn't know anything about Madoka Magica would feel about the game. The presentation feels kind of weird-- I feel like we're already meant to know who everyone is based on all the videos you see before loading in but then the story kind of treats us like we're brand new and that Mami is supposed to be some sort of surprise.
All of that said, it's early access and we're not even a whole day into it-- I'm not done with the main story so it's possible I'm missing stuff too. Maybe I'll be more into it once I start watching more Magical Girl Stories. The event story is kind of boring so far but it's also pmmm girlies and I love them but-- you know.
I think my greatest fear for the game is that it doesn't bring anything new and it just summarizes stories we already know. I know you have to strike a balance between presenting content that old fans and new fans alike are going to find interesting-- and new fans need to know what's the deal with characters they are unfamiliar with too. But I really hope it gives us new stories, new characters, new things in general.
There are elements I like, I swear that it's not just all negative. It looks like we'll spend a lot of time developing our characters and I like long projects which reward you for patient investment. Again, the combat is growing on me and I'm starting to enjoy it more.
Actually trying to write out the positives makes me think of more things i dislike aklfjsaklfasjfkkasfja
Which is weird, because I'm not not having fun. I am! I dunno.
I don't want to be a huge bummer so I won't put this in the tag. We'll see how I feel about the game in like a week.
At the very least this game looks like it'll be a fun way to waste some time and good god I've been needing something like that lately so if anything, thank the stars for that
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