User:AlsoArei

Beginnings/Eternal was a mobile game developed by Mobcast and Bilibili for Android and IOS. It was available in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, from December 28, 2016 until January 4, 2018. Though the game text was entirely in Chinese, it featured voice acting in Japanese from the original voice actors during gameplay and in the main story chapters.

Plot

The game’s plot was intended to take place over three weeks, during Homura’s third time loop. By the time story mode begins, all girls have already contracted and are fighting in Mitakihara, with Mami, Homura, Madoka and Sayaka working as a team. Eight story chapters were released during the game’s lifetime.

Gameplay

The basic gameplay is a side-scroller beat ‘em up platformer. The five protagonists from the anime are available as playable characters. Characters are unlocked as the player’s level increases, with Sayaka being available from the start, and they each have their own differing ways of fighting. For example, Madoka excels at long range and charge her attacks for extra damage, while Sayaka is tough but has little attack and fights in melee. Each character also has a unique assist skill that can be used in duo battles and a supreme skill that can be used after killing enough enemies.

There are five ways of strengthening each character: inlaying magic stones into their weapons, giving them grief seeds to increase their stats, using skill runes to improve certain attacks and unlocking fetters. It’s also possible to improve their assist skills by having them give each other appropriate gifts (Madoka likes plushies, Sayaka CDs and Homura bombs, for example.) There are two gameplay modes: barrier (which contains Story mode and Fierce Battle mode) and event. The latter is composed of three types of challenges, which unlock as the player levels up.

These are Land of Reincarnation, Forbidden Areas and Rescue Battles. In Land of Reincarnation, as the name suggests, it’s impossible to die. Instead the final score is decided based on the damage dealt and the time taken to defeat enemies. It can only be played a set amount of times per day, though losses don’t count towards the maximum. The player must be at least level 20 to play these levels. Forbidden Areas have the player fight against a single familiar and try to inflict as much damage as possible within the time limit while continually losing health. The longer they last, the more damage they deal, which decides how much points their earn. Afterwards the player gets ranked according to other people’s scores and can obtain rewards based on this.

Rescue Battles include an NPC that must be protected from the level’s enemies over six stages, with the player character’s health carrying between stages. They can be played twice a day per difficulty level, and come in normal, hard and nightmare modes. They’re only available from level 32 onwards.

The game also includes a gacha system, with two machines to roll from. One is the coin gacha, and the other is the diamond gacha, both of which offer one free roll per day. The latter generally has better items, and some things like high-rarity magic stones can only be obtained from there.

Each item has a rarity level measured in stars, between one and six. Some of what can be pulled from the gachas includes grief seeds, gifts, equipment, character cards and magic stones. Sometimes, instead of pulling an entire card, the player gets fragments of a specific card. If they gather enough, they can combine them into a full card. Duplicates can be traded for magic stones.