(no subject)

Thinking some more about why Magia Record frustrates me.

The original Madoka Magica feels disconnected from time and space. Anything could be happening in the larger non-magical world, but the characters can’t afford to worry about that, because they need to keep surviving all the dangers of the magical girl life. (One show heavily inspired by MM had a reveal that there was no outside world anymore—the area the heroes defended contained all surviving life on Earth.)

Magia Record doubles down on that by presenting everyone who isn’t a magical girl as a nameless, faceless outline. Magical girls protect and save them, but are fundamentally disconnected from them. But at the same time, it has to differentiate all these different girls, and it does so in the different ways they interact with the world. So for instance, one magical girl is a devoted member of what I think is supposed to be a Yakuza group, but she can’t have detailed interactions with the other group members because they’re not magical girls. There are all these points where there should be connections but aren’t.

Portals of Phereon

Most of the characters you can start the game with are Medium size and can’t fly.

In order to enter the Heaven biome, you need to either fly, or ride on the back of a flying creature at least one size bigger than you.

Every time I find the Heaven biome, it’s on the other side of a portal too small to fit any creature bigger than Medium size.

I feel like I’m being trolled.