Puella Magi Imperatrix Mundi, or: Wherein Half Of Japan Tries To Kill You

[Rei of Sunshine]

[x] Wish for great power. You're signing up to be a magical warrior of love and justice, what more could you ever want? Sure, from what Kyubey says it won't be as easy as it looks in anime, but that just means you need to be stronger... right? Then again, this is still the real world, and power isn't everything.

 

[Echo]

A few hints, since this is a pretty good analysis but might be making the wrong assumptions about gameplay issues.

On power: I can kind of see Yui wishing for this because she doesn't want to be ignored, and wants to be taken seriously. This also gives her agency to do something with her life. Maybe.

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In case it wasn't obvious from the "very high potential" bit, Yui will never lack for raw firepower. There will probably be a grand total of two possible antagonists able to stomp Yui with raw power alone. Particularly at the beginning, you'll be doing a lot more Social Links and exploration than straight fights, and even in fights the main challenge will be opponents with a lot of skill and/or bullshit hax powers.

On friends: Yeah, gonna backfire. Yui would end up wondering if they would really have been her friends without her wish, even if her wish only put her in contact with people she could make friends with.

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None of the suggested wishes will backfire that badly. Yui will know what effect her wish had. That said, yes, this could still go into... worrying territory.

On understanding the needs and feelings of others: Maybe, but I don't think Yui's problem is a lack of insight. It may give her the power to do more about it, but it won't really feel like it.

On pure understanding: Same problem as the previous.

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These are both, effectively, wishes for nothing. Yui would be asking to be good at something she's already good at, so there'd be no direct effect of the wish. Instead, the entire potential would be directed into the wish magic, to very noticable effect. The specifics differ between the two, of course. Both would give some very useful powers.

Basically, unless I screw up, all of the suggested wishes will give you some very obvious and very useful benefit, with varying kinds of limitations and drawbacks.

 

[Kosmos]

[X] Wish to be taken seriously. It's not that people don't know how to help each other. It's not that there aren't ways to make people happier. But too often, these ideas are brushed off, as foolish. As too expensive. As unimportant. Just like everyone brushes you off. If you're going to make people happier, if you're going to defend this city, you need them to understand that you're not just an ornament, and listen to what you say.

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Why won't anyone take you seriously when you try to help? Why is it so hard to make people realize you're not just a piece of scenery?

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This will turn Yui into a center of attention, she will be centered in other people's worlds. It neatly addresses her conscious understanding of her personal problems, but is this what she truly needs?

Yui's is jealous of her big brother and feels overshadowed by him -- that's why people keep paying attention to her brother and not her. Just being taken seriously is not enough -- she needs to step outside of her brother's shadow. Becoming a super detective is so far outside of what her brother does it's perfect for getting people to praise her being the best person she can be!

[x] Wish for great power. You're signing up to be a magical warrior of love and justice, what more could you ever want? Sure, from what Kyubey says it won't be as easy as it looks in anime, but that just means you need to be stronger... right? Then again, this is still the real world, and power isn't everything.

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Power isn't everything. We're eventually going to hit a wall that we can't punch our way across. Helping society by catching criminals/being a nice person will earn us allies, which is far more important than our individual power level. Also, much of the beginning of the quest won't involve fighting at all -- alliance-building is the way to go.

 

[PhDEevee]

A few hints, since this is a pretty good analysis but might be making the wrong assumptions about gameplay issues.

Basically, unless I screw up, all of the suggested wishes will give you some very obvious and very useful benefit, with varying kinds of limitations and drawbacks.

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Okay, that's quite helpful.

Yui's is jealous of her big brother and feels overshadowed by him -- that's why people keep paying attention to her brother and not her. Just being taken seriously is not enough -- she needs to step outside of her brother's shadow. Becoming a super detective is so far outside of what her brother does it's perfect for getting people to praise her, while not dragging her own brother down.

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Much as I'm entertained by the super detective wish, 1) it's seems way outside what Yui was thinking when she thought 'help people' (though I could be wrong) and 2) has the problem that being a super detective isn't particularly helpful if you can't convince the police to pay attention to your deductions. Which sure as hell would be Yui's problem.

This will turn Yui into a center of attention, she will be centered in other people's worlds. It neatly addresses her conscious understanding of her personal problems, but is this what she truly needs?

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Frankly, yes. There's nothing to suggest that Yui can't be capable. It's just that she hasn't found the right path and no-one gives her a chance to develop that capability. For instance: you can't learn to cut things perfectly if your mother takes away the knife while you're trying to learn (man that's remarkably similar to what happens if I let my mother hang around the kitchen while cooking something difficult). This wish is so that people give her a chance.

 

[Echo]

Yui's is jealous of her big brother and feels overshadowed by him -- that's why people keep paying attention to her brother and not her. Just being taken seriously is not enough -- she needs to step outside of her brother's shadow. Becoming a super detective is so far outside of what her brother does it's perfect for getting people to praise her, while not dragging her own brother down.

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Note that Yui's inner monologue effectively said at least twice that she isn't jealous, and she at least claimed that she doesn't really care about attention--she wants to do the best she can as the person she is, and if that means being overshadowed by someone else who's doing their best, she doesn't mind.

In any case, big brother is off at a fancy university in another city. You won't see him again for quite a while (maybe a month of in-quest time). The reputation left behind by the city's previous magical girl? That's the shadow she'll be in now. And all you really know about her is that she held the territory for "years", mentored a number of other magical girls, and stuff like that. Her wish, her powers, her personality, who knows? Well, Kyubey, I guess.

Incidentally, if you want to put off the wish and interrogate the bunnycat some more that's also fine.

 

[Rei of Sunshine]

Power isn't everything. We're eventually going to hit a wall that we can't punch our way across. Helping society by catching criminals/being a nice person will earn us allies, which is far more important than our individual power level. Also, much of the beginning of the quest won't involve fighting at all -- alliance-building is the way to go.

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So what's wrong with wishing to be strong? We can use that strength to help other people as well as our friends.

 

[Echo]

So what's wrong with wishing to be strong? We can use that strength to help other people as well as our friends.

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Until you run into any of several meguca with creepy mental powers and find yourself not entirely in control of that strength.

I'll be honest, since it's getting several votes: Wishing for power here is probably the option that will be the least useful overall and will be actively counterproductive in a number of cases. It will still have several major benefits, but Yui is already going to be strong. She needs allies, and more power doesn't help much with that.

Well, wishing for power might help recruit Homura after she watches you basically solo Walpurgisnacht. But aside from that.

 

[Sepulchare]

More Dakka is Best Dakka

But then again social links is love Social Links is life

This is a tough one! D:

 

[Kosmos]

Note that Yui's inner monologue effectively said at least twice that she isn't jealous, and she at least claimed that she doesn't really care about attention--she wants to do the best she can as the person she is, and if that means being overshadowed by someone else who's doing their best, she doesn't mind.

In any case, big brother is off at a fancy university in another city. You won't see him again for quite a while (maybe a month of in-quest time). The reputation left behind by the city's previous magical girl? That's the shadow she'll be in now. And all you really know about her is that she held the territory for "years", mentored a number of other magical girls, and stuff like that. Her wish, her powers, her personality, who knows? Well, Kyubey, I guess.

Incidentally, if you want to put off the wish and interrogate the bunnycat some more that's also fine.

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Thanks for the correction. I misunderstood her ambition. One of the functions of our wish should let her be the best person she can be.

So what's wrong with wishing to be strong? We can use that strength to help other people as well as our friends.

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Oh, there's nothing wrong with being strong. But OP said we won't be able to hold territories alone -- social links will be important too. My write-in is something that will help social links and Yui's ambitions at the same time.

 

[PhDEevee]

Incidentally, if you want to put off the wish and interrogate the bunnycat some more that's also fine.

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I'm fairly sure the quest would never get started if we did that, though it's hugely tempting.

 

[Sepulchare]

But since Echo said she will never lack for raw firepower, I'm gonna compromise!

[x] Wish to protect those who rely on you. Defeating the bad guys is meaningless if innocent people get hurt anyway. Even if it means you might still be stuck in a passive role... so be it. You don't want to see anyone hurt if you can prevent it. Besides, this is flawless anime logic and therefore should work perfectly for a magical girl, right?

Flawless anime logic is flawless

Edit: We can obtain social links the Proper way, Through Clutch Dice rolls and Quest-Master placed Plot-Twists

 

[Echo]

Thanks for the correction. I misunderstood her ambition. One of the functions of our wish should let her be the best person she can be.

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This was sort of the intent of the "wish for understanding" options--take something that is already one of her strengths, and drop in a bunch of force-multiplier abilities to let her make the most of it.

 

[Echo]

Edit: We can obtain social links the Proper way, Through Dice rolls and clutch author decisions

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No dice for social!

Success will depend on figuring out the desires and motivations of the NPCs and applying pressure in the right place at the right time.

 

[Sepulchare]

No dice for social!

Success will depend on figuring out the desires and motivations of the NPCs and applying pressure in the right place at the right time.

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No dice for social ? Mother of God.....

 

[Kosmos]

Success will depend on figuring out the desires and motivations of the NPCs and applying pressure in the right place at the right time.

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applying pressure in the right place at the right time.

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applying pressure

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right place at the right time.

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l-lewd

 

[PhDEevee]

No dice for social ? Mother of God.....

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No dice to help you social, SV. You're going down.

Jokes aside, it's been implied Yui's pretty decent at social anyway, so we should be able to at least pick up the relevant cues, even if later actions lead us to crash and burn.

 

[Rei of Sunshine]

Oh, there's nothing wrong with being strong. But OP said we won't be able to hold territories alone -- social links will be important too. My write-in is something that will help social links and Yui's ambitions at the same time.

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I see what you're saying but the reason why I'm voting for power is so that we can be the tank for our allies, I don't plan to go it alone.

 

[Echo]

It occurs to me that maybe I should post more actual gameplay stuff before making you finalize this decision...

In any case, it's super late here and I need sleep. This vote will stay open for a while since it's so critical to the quest.

A couple last things: First, the kind of help you can expect from the "understanding" wishes is things like, instead of Yui's inner monologue noting that "their body language shifts slightly--something you just said seemed to bother this person" it'll be like "your magic twinges as you say ____--you should approach that topic carefully." Same goes for any other wish that involves knowing or understanding things, most likely.

Second, the "be taken seriously" write-in is very close to another option I almost added to the suggestions but changed my mind because I wasn't happy with the wording. So yeah, assume the disclaimers of "will be useful, won't screw you over" apply to that write-in as well. Other write-ins, no guarantees.

 

[Sepulchare]

It occurs to me that maybe I should post more actual gameplay stuff before making you finalize this decision...

In any case, it's super late here and I need sleep. This vote will stay open for a while since it's so critical to the quest.

A couple last things: First, the kind of help you can expect from the "understanding" wishes is things like, instead of Yui's inner monologue noting that "their body language shifts slightly--something you just said seemed to bother this person" it'll be like "your magic twinges as you say ____--you should approach that topic carefully." Same goes for any other wish that involves knowing or understanding things, most likely.

Second, the "be taken seriously" write-in is very close to another option I almost added to the suggestions but changed my mind because I wasn't happy with the wording. So yeah, assume the disclaimers of "will be useful, won't screw you over" apply to that write-in as well. Other write-ins, no guarantees.

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Our Meguca Senses are tingling?

 

[veekie]

Hmm, what about a wish to bring others UP to our level?
We can (try to) make friends, but as someone who's isolated by having talent(and here AGAIN, we have top tier talent for this city), I think a wish to ensure that we cannot be left alone by dint of being the only one still left can make sense. That line with her brother, where he's the only person who treats her as an equal is pretty striking to me. Everyone around her is completely out of her league in either direction. That Kyubey explicitly stated that she has the highest potential in the city has got to sting WORSE, since this is life and death, and those not strong enough will die.

Not sure how to phrase it though.

 

[Echo]

I see what you're saying but the reason why I'm voting for power is so that we can be the tank for our allies, I don't plan to go it alone.

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Okay, one more thing before I go, since this is another gameplay issue. Beware of making assumptions about your potential allies--I have basic plans outlined for quite a few, and their powers are very diverse. Any obvious role like "tank" can probably be covered by recruiting the right person. Same for obvious utility powers like healing or teleportation.

Though, I suppose that doesn't help if you never find them and they witch-out off camera...

I will say that voting for power will make Yui a fantastic tank, though!

 

[veekie]

@Echo

How would you go about phrasing the wish I listed above?

 

[Sepulchare]

Okay, one more thing before I go, since this is another gameplay issue. Beware of making assumptions about your potential allies--I have basic plans outlined for quite a few, and their powers are very diverse. Any obvious role like "tank" can probably be covered by recruiting the right person. Same for obvious utility powers like healing or teleportation.

Though, I suppose that doesn't help if you never find them and they witch-out off camera...

I will say that voting for power will make Yui a fantastic tank, though!

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Quick question, Can we learn the Ancient and powerful technique known to some as ... Dodging? not the crappy Jump 50 yards into the air while leaving yourself completely exposed but actually effective dodging? I can imagine many Bad Ends being averted due to our Masterful skill in The Dodge

 

[Kosmos]

I see what you're saying but reason I'm voting for power is so that we can be the tank for our allies, I don't plan to go it alone.

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Isn't that the whole point of having allies? So they can get beat up instead of us?

Quick question, Can we learn the Ancient and powerful technique known to some as ... Dodging? not the crappy Jump 50 yards into the air and leaving yourself completely exposed but actually effective dodging? I can imagine many Bad Ends being averted due to our Masterful skill in The Dodge

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[Dark Lord Bob]

after she watches you basically solo Walpurgisnacht.

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Wat.

No seriously, we're able to solo Walpurgisnacht and there'll still be two beings able to stomp her with raw power? Are we lining up to fight Homucifer or the Incubators?