Forum › Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story discussion

Rabu2
joined Apr 22, 2019

I started at the end of February and I can't complain.
Well, except for the lack of slots on limited girls. I guess it's the price for not being a cetacean.

They already said that all girls will get Doppels, so Ashley will get one (though we have no clue when that will happen)

Holdingsmall
joined Jan 15, 2020

The statement of "all girls will get Doppels" came before Ashley or the NA server in itself was ever considered, and in the context it meant more like, "all girls will get their 5* uncap", which is in itself far more important than a Doppel, since it was assumed any given girl who had a 5* uncap would also have a Doppel by proxy, Ashley exists in a unique context in general being the only girl to not exist in JP server.

Do keep in mind I am only speculating based on what is known the process for new Doppels is, and I fully admit I may be completely off the mark, plus I am not even saying "Ashley will never get a Doppel", I am saying "there might need to happen some things in the background first before she can get her Doppel", and in terms of gameplay, Ashley's Doppel is almost completely irrelevant, so there is little reason to fret about how long that will take.

Actually from what I read it's not first time that meguca was released without Doppel. It happened few times in JP as well.

It actually has happened twice, but it always has been a very short time period between the girl and her Doppel, with an attempt to mask it by having it be timelocked, so the Doppel mission was visible though unselectable, rather than outright releasing absent, the characters who went through this were Kirari Hikaru, releasing in October 15th 2019, and getting her Doppel October 28th 2019, then Natsu Ryoko, releasing January 27th 2020, and getting her Doppel February 7th 2020.

Well, except for the lack of slots on limited girls.

My solution to that has been to only roll for limited girls if I am going to 4 slot them, though it has led me to skipping Summer Homura this time around since I was too low on rolls thanks to the other Homura, which was frustrating, but I will get her next time around hopefully, ultimately I prefer to have them being the big strong if I am going to have them at all.

last edited at May 14, 2020 2:37PM

Nevri Uploader
Rosmontis
Nevrilicious Scans
joined Jun 5, 2015

Well, as much as I dislike exclusive stuff, what I hate more is that they released her as a "first exclusive NA meguca", but it's so obvious they won't stick to it and will add her to JP sooner or later. I'd be honestly impressed if they stick to their guns and kept her exclusive, but I can already see all the JP players getting upset about it. But that's the issue. If they're going to add her to JP, then she isn't really NA exclusive so marketing her as such is a plain lie, which honestly pisses me off more. I had similar issue when FGO did similar thing with "exclusive NA event" which was just Scathach banner mixed with new year's guarantee gacha (which pissed a lot of NA players, cos that meant our pool of guarantee 5 stars was smaller) and we did not get new guarantee on new year's. If you're not really going to give us truly exclusive content, then don't market it as such.

And Ashley is 100% going to be added to JP. I heard 1 very good theory, why they didn't take advantage of having a bilingual voice actress voicing her and instead made her sound like someone doing a poor job of dubbing character from anime and not like, you know, a actual native, is because she's going to voice Ashley's Japanese lines for JP as well, so this way both voice and the way of speech will be the same between NA and JP, but unlike NA she'll actually sounds good in JP. And don't get me wrong. It's not actress fault. I saw her video announcing that she will be voicing Ashley and her English was perfectly fine. In fact I liked her voice, so what they did with it is insulting. Out first "exclusive" NA meguca and they couldn't be even arsed to make her appeal to us first and foremost, but instead they focused more on how to easily add her to JP after that marketing stun is over. And don't be fooled. They don't care about us. Releasing her exactly before Homura's banner is a perfect proof. It was so obviously planned I could literally taste all the cynicism and corporate influence behind that move. Not to mention making her limited instead of unlimited or even 3 star so she's easy to get, on top of making her meta breaking so even people who didn't really plan to roll for her, will think twice before skipping.

On topic of limited girls. Ideally you want to have enough to roll at least 2 copies (and pray for no spooks rate up is a lie) because having 2 passive memorias is the most important gameplay wise. Of course having 4 slots is ideal and you will definitely want to have 4 for girls you care about the most. That's how I try to do it anyway, so I skip a lot of banners and just save my gems, cos I'm not really spending money on it. Especially now that I'm really satisfied with what I currently have.

last edited at May 14, 2020 3:18PM

riverFlower Uploader
The Golden Orchid
joined Jan 19, 2017

I feel pretty behind lol, cause even in-game, the teams I see in mirrors and as support options are almost always stronger than mine. Stronger as in they've got at least one lvl 100 5* character which I don't even have yet. XD Usually it's more than that and they've got multiple memoria slots unlocked too, also rare for me. Literally only got Kaede's 2nd unlocked three days ago during Beachside event and Moemura's yesterday. Ah well at least I can clear most events with OP support.

First time I heard Ashley's voiced lines was hilariously baffling. I mean I assumed it was supposed to be tongue in cheek stereotyping, so that was fine.

I'm glad I play Dragalia Lost too because that game is much more forgiving progress/gacha wise.

Nevri Uploader
Rosmontis
Nevrilicious Scans
joined Jun 5, 2015

I honestly think MR is very forgiving and generous. They got pity system that not many gacha games have. But then some decisions they make really make me question their motives. Like our pacing is a terrible idea and it really feels like just a way to squeeze as much money from people and possible. I even heard people saying that as soon as we'll catch to JP, they'll close it, because "it's not as profitable as JP". Ignoring that gacha games are not popular in west, I wonder why MR doesn't bring as much money? It couldn't be that we get no break between events and nobody, even the biggest whales, can really afford to spend insane amount of money to buy gems to 4 slot new meguca every next week.

riverFlower Uploader
The Golden Orchid
joined Jan 19, 2017

Depends on the definition of forgiving cause yeah like Dragalia doesn't have a pity system and MR does. The pace of it is what makes it unforgiving, because to get pity, you have to build up a number of stones beforehand and I believe that stones are essentially non-grindable after a certain point which means you're timelocked into how many you can have at a time and therefore how many banners you can get pity on given the fast pace. There's still a month-ish before anniversary, but I'll barely have 100 pulls saved up by that time lol. Going to be so sad if I get spooked by a non-limited unit.

That'd be pretty sad if they really did close NA right after catching up. Don't know how much evidence there is for something like that happening though.

Sakura Cartelet
Nights%20of%20azure%20avatar
joined May 28, 2016

Sure Magia Record probably isn't as profitable as Fate/Grand Order is although I'm pretty sure it makes enough to justify its continued existence in the NA side. Given that I don't know of any official figures for the game, it's also hard to tell how good or bad the game is doing, although given the Madoka is somewhat popular, I don't think they're doing that bad.

As for Ashley, I'm wanting to say she will remain a NA exclusive (for the foreseeable future). Ashley is not the first time (nor will she be the last) that there's been content exclusive to one version or region of a game since they've been doing so way before mobile gaming was even a concept. Also there's (currently) no reason to worry about content parity since the (JP, TW, and NA) servers are separate. If a JP player wants Ashley they can always join the NA server.

Nevri Uploader
Rosmontis
Nevrilicious Scans
joined Jun 5, 2015

When I was briefly checking reddit after Ashley was announced I found someone mentioning that the reason U.S. broadcasting of anime has mobile game ad at the end, unlike Japanese, was because Aniplex didn't like that NA wasn't as profitable as JP, that's why they were pushing it. I have no clue if they just expected more money or it really is unprofitable or w/e that's even true or not, so take that with the grain of salt.

About exclusive content, I don't like it, because it gives precedence and next time JP could get exclusive meguca and if she happens to be someone I'd like, I'd hate it. Also I didn't mention it but I do know we already got some exclusive content. We have 6 NA exclusive formations that are really strong, so it's not like it'd be first. But again, I'm against idea of exclusivity in the first place. And if they intend to keep Ashley as exclusive, then they really did a poor job on her.

If a JP player wants Ashley they can always join the NA server.

You do realize that's not a solution whatsoever?

riverFlower Uploader
The Golden Orchid
joined Jan 19, 2017

Who knew there could be so much at stake in mobile gacha games.

We have 6 NA exclusive formations that are really strong, so it's not like it'd be first.

I was shocked when I found out the tercio formations are NA exclusive because they're the best formations in the game in terms of pure stat boost, element flexibility, and not getting three megucas blasted to oblivion at once.

Unrelated, this event has finally forced me to use up AP potions one after one. Well not even actual AP potions, just the 50 AP ones. XD That's probably a good thing cause otherwise I'd have 70 of those being hoarded for no reason.

last edited at May 14, 2020 6:06PM

Sakura Cartelet
Nights%20of%20azure%20avatar
joined May 28, 2016

Keep in mind JP also has the Union Assault and Tricolor Raid formations which NA does not have so it's not like they don't get any exclusive content on their end either.

Nevri Uploader
Rosmontis
Nevrilicious Scans
joined Jun 5, 2015

riverFlower

I was shocked when I found out the tercio formations are NA exclusive because they're the best formations in the game in terms of pure stat boost, element flexibility, and not getting three megucas blasted to oblivion at once.

That makes us two. Until I watched video about MR mechanics I had no idea they were exclusive and honestly it only annoyed me more, because in JP the meta is stall. Light/Dark megucas are the strongest, nobody make other teams than 3 of those and light formation with Madokami, Darc and Kokoro/IroYachi is pretty much only thing you'll find in mirrors. Well at the time that video was made anyway. Those formations give elemental megucas the edge they needed to make making formations using them worth it again.

Unrelated, this event has finally forced me to use up AP potions one after one. Well not even actual AP potions, just the 50 AP ones. XD That's probably a good thing cause otherwise I'd have 70 of those being hoarded for no reason.

recently reached 700 50 AP potions and over 100 normal potions and actually started to stop buying them from support shop, because what she gets from events is enough, because she never runs out of them despite spamming them often to farm entire shops Y-Yes.

Sakura Cartelet

Keep in mind JP also has the Union Assault and Tricolor Raid formations which NA does not have so it's not like they don't get any exclusive content on their end either.

I know and I hate it too, especially since formations are like one of the main gameplay mechanics and current options feel incredibly lacking. Double so since those formations look like something I'd actually use a lot. Just because exclusive content existed before it doesn't mean it's a good idea. Honestly I hate current concept of gacha games and I shouldn't really play them. Only reason I do is because I like those franchises and characters, but I'd never play game like that just for gameplay alone with their current models.

last edited at May 14, 2020 7:09PM

Holdingsmall
joined Jan 15, 2020

I'd also like to point out that there are severe disadvantages to keeping Ashley NA only, mainly she will never get to appear in any events or have any appereances in the main story, will have no interaction with other characters besides those few she already got, will receive no new costumes from seasonal events(due to not appearing in them), on the fandom side of things, also get next to no fanart, as well as never getting to appear in any doujins, and so on, basically all things that severely screw up anyone who likes Ashley for more than just a Mirrors statstick.

Plus she'd make so much bank once she is released in JP, she actually has a great design, a very powerful kit, a very unique personality that will let her stand out even among the current vast cast... there is no reason to not release her in JP at some point...

recently reached 700 50 AP potions and over 100 normal potions and actually started to stop buying them from support shop, because what she gets from events is enough, because she never runs out of them despite spamming them often to farm entire shops Y-Yes.

has a ridiculous amount of pots and yet she keeps hoarding them like some sort of AP-addicted dragon Get on my level...

Sakura Cartelet
Nights%20of%20azure%20avatar
joined May 28, 2016

Well it looks like the next event will be a skip for me since it's pvp focused and I have little interest in the PVP in this game. The rewards or event shop don't look that good either.

Nevri Uploader
Rosmontis
Nevrilicious Scans
joined Jun 5, 2015

Veya posted:

has a ridiculous amount of pots and yet she keeps hoarding them like some sort of AP-addicted dragon Get on my level...

Hahahah xD My friend who is a serious dragon would approve xP

Sakura Cartelet posted:

Well it looks like the next event will be a skip for me since it's pvp focused and I have little interest in the PVP in this game. The rewards or event shop don't look that good either.

Well ranked Mirrors are literally play 10 matches daily for a week and that's it. I think you get smaller number of event currency for losing, so you could play it without trying and grab whatever you care about the most in shop (tickets are usually the highest priority).

riverFlower Uploader
The Golden Orchid
joined Jan 19, 2017

recently reached 700 50 AP potions and over 100 normal potions and actually started to stop buying them from support shop, because what she gets from events is enough, because she never runs out of them despite spamming them often to farm entire shops Y-Yes.

has a ridiculous amount of pots and yet she keeps hoarding them like some sort of AP-addicted dragon Get on my level...

I see we all suffer from Gamer Hoarder Syndrome. My type of people! Let us all unite and form AP Dragons Anonymous.

I'd also like to point out that there are severe disadvantages to keeping Ashley NA only, mainly she will never get to appear in any events or have any appereances in the main story, will have no interaction with other characters besides those few she already got, will receive no new costumes from seasonal events(due to not appearing in them), on the fandom side of things, also get next to no fanart, as well as never getting to appear in any doujins, and so on, basically all things that severely screw up anyone who likes Ashley for more than just a Mirrors statstick.

This wins me over to the no-exclusivity-between-servers faction. When the primary appeal of the Madoka series/MR is in the strength of its characters, having a character be exclusive and lose out on any potential fandom/story interaction makes no sense.

Well it makes perfect sense from a marketing to NA perspective, but not fandom enjoyment and potentially long-term investment, not that I know what the numbers would look like.

Sakura Cartelet
Nights%20of%20azure%20avatar
joined May 28, 2016

@Veya Maybe they might make some money off the Japanese fans but would it be worth enraging the players of the NA server where Ashley was touted to be an NA-exclusive? People spent money and magia stones on content that was said to be exclusive only for them to say "lol we're just kidding about her being an exclusive". If they had said timed exclusive to NA that would be one thing, but they said exclusive to NA.

Also would you really want to trust them any more if they did this? Not me for sure. Assuming I don't drop all Aniplex run games, I'd (and others probably) would view anything they say with extreme skepticism. They did it once, what makes you sure they won't do it again.

Holdingsmall
joined Jan 15, 2020

Okay so, there are layers of wrongness to this argument, so excuse me if I come across as a little rude in this.

First, you are assuming way, waaaaaaay to much that they give a damn about NA relative to JP, JP is the main product, JP makes by far the most money, NA is completely secondary to JP, and it will always be, even if they intended to maintain the exclusivity clause, which I never believed for one moment they would, if they had to choose between upsetting NA players due to breaking exclusivity, and upsetting JP players for not letting them have a shiny toy, they would decide in favor of JP players in a heartbeat, this is an universal truth about all gachas, not even just MagiReco.

Second, you are acting like an exclusive character would be the reason anyone would be playing NA over JP, it never was and it will never be, the reason to play NA over JP, the reason for NA to exist at all, is the localization, is being able to actually read the game you are playing is a massive deal, this is also why your "JP players who want Ashley should just play NA" argument just doesn't work, even if they were willing to, most of them have a cursory knowledge of English at best.

Third, you are acting like NA players would even know, a vast majority of players only play or care about NA, they don't follow JP news, they have no reason to, one of my best friends is very involved with the MagiReco subreddit and she has pointed out to me that they don't even get translated JP news anymore, because most people just find playing NA far more practical, they can do it and get it under the nose of 80% of the player base, minimum, and then you'd have to get the people that did learn of it to care about exclusivity being broken, which also would hardly everyone, or even most.

Ultimately, yes, on a pure empirical sense, breaking the exclusivity clause would be bad, on practice this clause was never going to be sustainable, and most people with a cursory knowledge of how gacha industry works would've been able to tell you as much from the start, would've been better if they had always branded this as a timed exclusivity? absolutely, but it didn't happen, and it not happening won't stop them when time comes.

You are completely underestimating the subreddit, its like you haven't used the subreddit before

A quick look at

https://www.reddit.com/r/magiarecord/new/?f=flair_name%3A%22JP%20Game%22

shows that of the relevant JP news appears on the Magia Record subreddit, we find out pretty much instantly when a new girl or feature is added in JP.

There is no way that people wouldn't find out about Ashley being added to JP, there would be a post about it soon after it happens and it would be upvoted a ton.

The only players who wouldn't know about it would be the ones who don't use Reddit (players who use Twitter/Facebook would also find out pretty quick if they read tweets replying to Magia Record account/are in a Magia Record Facebook group)

Rabu2
joined Apr 22, 2019

I'd also like to point out that there are severe disadvantages to keeping Ashley NA only, mainly she will never get to appear in any events or have any appereances in the main story, will have no interaction with other characters besides those few she already got, will receive no new costumes from seasonal events(due to not appearing in them), on the fandom side of things, also get next to no fanart, as well as never getting to appear in any doujins, and so on, basically all things that severely screw up anyone who likes Ashley for more than just a Mirrors statstick.

This. And honestly, what would be the point of keeping her exclusive? I don't think a lot of people, if anyone, suddenly decided to play on the NA version because of Ashley.

Nevri Uploader
Rosmontis
Nevrilicious Scans
joined Jun 5, 2015

Well the whole point for something to be exclusive is for people who own it to feel special. They pretty much pay for bragging rights. Outside of giving incentive to buying something, people might not buy otherwise, because of its limited status, exclusive stuff doesn't really have any special value for people making it. That's why limited units are sorta best of 2 worlds, because they're exclusive in a sense, but aren't 1 time only deal, so it's not like if you miss your 1 chance to get them, you won't ever have them. So in theory there's no real point to keeping her exclusive, but in practice they'd be pissing off a portion of their customers that buy things specifically, because they're exclusive. Also I have to agree with Sakura Cartelet here that promising NA exclusive content and then adding it to JP anyway, would be terrible PR for them, but then again since when gacha games gave a fuck about players. If FGO is anything to go by, people would actually rather defend them, no matter what kind of shitty practice they'd sink to.

Holdingsmall
joined Jan 15, 2020

Nevri, that's precisely what I mean at the end of my last post, it is ultimately not good that they'd breaking an exclusivity clause, but there are a lot of very good reasons they should anyway, including reasons that would benefit NA players in the long run, I also would like to point out that this entire discussion is happening with the assumption they wouldn't give some sort of compensation, they could very easily go "Ashley is going to JP but here's like 50 rolls worth of stuff so shut up about it" that would do a lot to swing the narrative in their favor, gacha players can be very easily controlled with a stash of free shiny rocks, after all.

Either way... Mirror season has started, and... goddamn this feels easy, I am used to fighting a lot tougher teams, but when a Yachiyo hits my Nanaka with a full puella combo and that's not even half of my Nanaka's HP, that feels so good, and I can feel the ear-to-ear Cheshire cat-tier smile forming on my face... this will stop once we get past prelims, but I feel I have a very good shot at S rank this season right now... remember everyone, only go for 1.8x multipliers, 1.7x is acceptable but any lower than that is a no-no.

last edited at May 15, 2020 7:46AM

Nevri Uploader
Rosmontis
Nevrilicious Scans
joined Jun 5, 2015

Veya posted:

remember everyone, only go for 1.8x multipliers, 1.7x is acceptable but any lower than that is a no-no.

Nah. For past 2 mirrors I was tryharding and in last one I won all my matches and only lost once like twice and still only got A++. In order to get A+++ or S, you must aim to get the best multipliers to get the highest score possible from all the matches. And rank S gives you nothing outside of satisfaction and bragging rights anyway. This time I don't give a fuck and just go for easy matches so I'll earn as much currency as possible and I only want to grab tickets and cores anyway.

Holdingsmall
joined Jan 15, 2020

Last time I lost several matches, as well as going for low multipliers on the first day(I had forgot how ranked worked at the time...), and I still made to A3 rank, and I was pretty close to the S rank breakpoint, so I am going all in this time, plus prelims are going to be easy so I have no reason to not give my all.

And rank S gives you nothing outside of satisfaction and bragging rights anyway.

Eh, this is true about all ranks, I still want the shiny rainbow badge, ya see, it is shiny and rainbow!

last edited at May 15, 2020 11:03AM

Nevri Uploader
Rosmontis
Nevrilicious Scans
joined Jun 5, 2015

Veya posted:

it is shiny and rainbow!

Valid point x3

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