- original artwork and animations are really nice! always fun to see some new original stuff.
- the girls are 3D! love love love the models, I feel like they did a good job translating all the characters' visual styles.
- combat is really fun. feels smooth and enjoyable, I've been enjoying it a lot. I have it on reasonable authority however that it's kind of pulling pages out of honkai star rails' book- which is fine, I have no interest in hsr, but I'm curious what hsr players think of magia exedra, if you've played both please share!!!
- Namae-chan and AQ are really fun!!! I can feel the roots of a very interesting story, but I fear that her unknown origins will drag on.... More on that in the next section. The idea that AQ is something "special" and "non-kyubey" is really compelling.
- the setting is lovely- I really like the lighthouse and its layout.
- I actually really like the little scenes where Namae-chan walks through the memories and the silhouettes of the involved girls appear and vanish around her. it's a nice compromise to get the points of the memories across while keeping the rehashed story as optional.
okay. now my gripes, below the cut.
stuff I didn't like (note: a lot of this will probably change! hopefully!!! I hope that as I progress through things and they take time to update the game these points will become moot!!!! In a beautiful, perfect world I will look back on this post and laugh at my own naivete):
- this game seems to be struggling with whether it's for established fans of the series or trying to pull in new people, which is... A hell of a piece of indecision for a game relying so heavily on its legacy characters. it acts as though it's trying to appeal to newer fans in rehashing the story of madoka and others as its main quest, but the character stories and vignettes that are supposed to give us more character insight are a confusing mix of backstory rehashing and kind of unsatisfying little side stories so far. I've been enjoying some of them, but everything feels more disconnected than it did in magireco, where many of these characters were introduced (therefore kind of allowing the writers to build their stories from scratch).
- speaking of, the UI is such a downgrade! (I guess technically Ui was pretty central to the magireco plot....... lol) I miss the opulent buttons and skeuomorphic, gemstone-y designs of the buttons and menus in magireco. everything in magiex is so flat and generic :(
- the... main gameplay. I hesitate to even call it that. How sad that a concept like labyrinths, which seems absolutely tailormade for a more persona-esque dungeon exploration mechanic, are reduced to a mechanic so linear you can literally automate it. I don't even dislike the atmosphere of the labyrinths! the fixed camera angle is interesting as an artistic choice! but WOW it is not used that way. really genuinely such a bummer, kind of my biggest beef with the game so far to be honest. there are definitely some elements that I like though- the liminality of some of the levels, the map overlays are fun, and even the ambient familiars are nice (the distant line of Anthonys dancing on top of the buildings :3 )
- I miss doppels and connects :(
-i am both excited for and nervous about Namae-chan's story... On the one hand it could turn out to be really interesting! It could be a deeply compelling story! On the other, more-likely-due-to-the-nature-of-mobile-games hand, it could drag on forever, with Namae-chan basically just eternally going "wow. emotions are crazy huh." I am hoping and praying we get the compelling plot we deserve and it doesn't just string along with the same, status-quo ass premise ad nauseum. I choose to believe in Namae-chan 👍
- a surprising amount of asset reuse. holy shit the anime screenshots being used for the main story is so egregious. tons of stuff that clearly just copy pasted from magireco. and not even the good stuff!!!! please for the love of God give Yuma better art at this point!!!!
- honestly it just needs a lot of optimization. drains my phone battery like crazy. menus and cutscenes get laggy and I know I'm not alone in thinking that.
I'm sure I'll think of more things that I both like and dislike- I'll probably make more posts as I see things but these are the big immediate standouts. would love to hear others' opinions, tell me what you liked, what you disliked, if you agree or disagree with my opinions! I'm definitely going to be playing regularly, so I'm excited to see this game change and evolve over time. :)
Just made myself a tumblr acc and I hope to get to know some people. I love roleplaying, so if anyone is interested in that or just wants to talk, please message me. Also it’d be great to have someone to get back to, if I have any questions, cuz I’m pretty confused about how everything works around here.
Whoever’s reading this, have a nice day (:
If Philip (the horse in beauty and the beast *2017*) had not come back to belle she would have never met the beast... and her dad would of just "disappeared" 😐.... I need a nap 😞
