I thought I'd have my Fate/Stay Night review written up first but I think that this'll be faster to do.
Spoilers for Fate/Extra
I have been quite interested in Fate/Extra for some time ever since I found out that Arcueid from Tsukihime was apparently one of the many enemy Servant's you face in the game. That and the concept of battling on the Moon seemed interesting.
Upon picking the game up, what I found was a story of self actualization, and the sacrifices made to reach that point... with a relatively mediocre JRPG combat system mixed in.
I'll start with a few negatives since I'd rather reserve my positive thoughts for a bit later.
The combat in this game is... questionable, I would say that's the right word. It's Rock, Paper, Scissors essentially and while you'll start having absolutely zero info on your opponents patterns, as you continue beating them you will accumulate knowledge both in the game itself and internally so that you can basically do no damage fights.
It was fine at first but as the game goes on it's a system of gameplay that's just more tedium than anything. It's neat that you basically have multiple actions per turn compared to more traditional systems, but eh, I just think the guess work for the RPS is just not that interesting in the long run.
That also moves onto the next issue I have, enemy designs. I'm not talking the enemy Servants, all of those are pretty well designed in my book but the basic Programs, the common enemy of the game, have very boring designs especially considering the environments you go through. This might be a complaint brought on by me playing Etrian Odyssey Untold only a month prior to Extra, but I really feel like there could have been more done to make the enemies pop out and feel more visually diverse than Bird, Bull, Cube. Fate is a franchise with many colorful enemy designs, and I really think it's a missed opportunity that they didn't really go all out here.
Then my final major complaint has to do with the Information Gathering. Now, I want to say that I don't think the concept is inherently bad but rather they don't go really go the distance with it in regards to what it could be. You see throughout the various weeks in this tournament, you will be collecting intel on your opponents so you can give them a thorough thrashing at the week's end. The game tries to play this off as being more difficult than it is, when in reality if you're going to the Arena every day, making sure you explore the entire school so as to not miss on events and stuff, you will get all of the info relatively easily.
I think the bigger issue though is that it all winds up feeling very samey. You'll go to the arena, encounter the enemy, get one docket of info. Then you'll have your enemy reveal something about their Servant, get another docket of info and so on and so forth until the final day arrives and you do a mini quiz to ascertain their True Name. It kind of kills the replayability of the game in a way because despite this game having 2 Routes (and 3 Playable Servants) which have separate encounters, the scenarios remain the same.
For example, in Round 4 you'll either face Li'l Ronnie and Lancer or Monji Gatou and Arcueid. Despite being entirely different characters, you'll still fight them on the first day in the arena, you'll still encounter them in the Nurse's Office, and you'll still have the enemy hunt mini game on Day 4 & 5. It results in the experience upon a replay feeling a little dulled out because it's just the exact same scenario but with a slightly different shade of paint.
I'll admit it's not the worst thing in the world, but I definitely hope that the remake irons some of this out and makes a more unique experience for both routes overall so they don't wind up feeling as samey as they do.
Onto the positives, the music in this game is fucking phenomenal, and I am currently listening to the soundtrack as I write this and it definitely is giving me the energy at 5:36 in the morning when I have only slept for like 4 hours max. Personal Favorite Tracks are Battle Theme 2, Dungeon Theme 2B, and Archer, The Hero Nobody Knows. All of the tracks are great though and do a great job illustrating the emotions of any given moment.
The narrative itself is something that I do enjoy quite a bit, even if I don't think it is the greatest story ever. You, Hakuno Kishinami, grow from a blank slate into an actualized person. This is shown in how at the start, your character is relatively flat with not many real character traits to stand out amongst the cast of colorful and zany characters. You are merely fighting to survive, with no greater wish or purpose beyond that.
But slowly, as you continue to struggle and succeed in the Grail War, Hakuno's personality begins to take shape. Their internal dialogue becomes more expressive, and they start having more of their own thoughts and feelings outside of the player. It's a scenario in which the voiceless JRPG protagonist finally gets a voice, and has their own thoughts and ideals separate from the player and I think that's a neat subversion.
The interesting thing is that I find this character growth to actually tie into the dungeon designs themselves. Near the beginning of the game, the dungeons are far more murky and filled with a looming darkness or abstraction that fits with how Hakuno's mindset of that time is like. All of the dungeons being called "Seas" also fits with this. The very first dungeon of the game has you at the very bottom of that sea, surrounded by the wreckage of various ships, with your first opponent being none other than resident shitbag, Shinji Matou.
The dungeon in particular starts with you at the top but has you sink lower as you go to face Shinji. You have the reach the depths of his lowly persona in order to defeat him. The wreckage surrounding you similar to Hakuno's feelings about the end of the Preliminaries, when hundreds of other participants were mercilessly left for dead. It's a good visual indication of our progression through the narrative I find.
By midway through the game, when Hakuno has started truly coming into their own, the dungeons start to become less abstract and begin to take on brighter and more vibrant tones. This is apparent by the fifth dungeon, where you face off against one of the long lasting threats, Julius and Assassin.
By the start of the second floor of the dungeon, you are surrounded with lush jungle greenery, a source of comfort despite facing off against a man who has killed hundreds of other competitors in this bloody war. You have your Servant, and the girl who you saved in the fourth week by your side. Unlike Julius, you are not alone. The lush greenery finally showing an acceptance of the circumstances, and a willingness to push beyond them.
Though if I had to describe a dungeon that I think perfectly encapsulates the themes of the game, that would be reserved for the Seventh. Both floors of the dungeon are vertical climbs to the top, representing the vast disparity in skill, power, and self-confidence between Hakuno and Leonardo B. Harwey, the longest lasting rival to our hero.
The first floor has Hakuno move on from the past via a rematch with Julius, and cement the bond with their Servant with a second fight against the Moon Cell itself. Slowly but surely building them up for that final confrontation.
Then, we arrive at the second floor. The shore of the sea as it were, a beautiful golden waterfall melting in a brilliant sunset. Easily the most gorgeous dungeon in the game, and visually impressive considering the hardware. The sunset beams down on the player like Leo's very presence, but still they climb.
And when you reach the top, you finally surmount him. You knock the crown off the king, and teach him the lesson of defeat. Your journey to self actualization complete.
Of course there's also the actual Final Boss, who is interesting in his own right but... well, he kind of just gets jammed in at the end. It's not like he isn't foreshadowed at all or anything but he is definitely the weakest part of the story for me despite basically being a mirror of Hakuno. It's mostly because we never see his journey to his point, and rather have it exposited to us which kind of makes it hit less hard than it could.
Either way, the actual ending is beautiful and like many other Fate endings, is definitely a highlight.
The characters are all pretty well done, there was no character who I thought was particularly bad or didn't serve a purpose in the grander narrative. I loved both of the Servant's I played with.
Saber's eccentric showman attitude was very pleasant to watch as she brutally roasted the opponents and showed the depths of her affections for Hakuno. And of course, Archer is always going to be my favorite Fate character regardless of his incarnation. His sarcasm is not lost on me, and I enjoy his banter with Hakuno and the enemy servants a lot. That and Unlimited Caladbolg Works is hilarious.
Oh yeah, the Superboss is also very cool... but I have to ask: Why is her attack named Twin Towers?
There's probably a lot more I can say about this game, from how the atmosphere of the school starting from a nice happy place to being an empty shell of its former self is great subtle horror atmosphere at work, or go more in-depth on some characters but as it is now 6 in the morning as I am at this paragraph, I think I will stop for now.
I definitely do recommend Fate/Extra if you're interested. I'm curious to see how they'll adapt it into the remake whenever that comes out, I also wonder if they'll keep Arcueid in that version honestly. Also looking forward to the English Fan Translation of Fate/Extra CCC when that gets finished by the Iwakura folks.
Anyways I should like, maybe go back to sleep... I do need to finish that Fate/Stay Night review though.
Spoilers for Fate/Extra
I have been quite interested in Fate/Extra for some time ever since I found out that Arcueid from Tsukihime was apparently one of the many enemy Servant's you face in the game. That and the concept of battling on the Moon seemed interesting.
Upon picking the game up, what I found was a story of self actualization, and the sacrifices made to reach that point... with a relatively mediocre JRPG combat system mixed in.
I'll start with a few negatives since I'd rather reserve my positive thoughts for a bit later.
The combat in this game is... questionable, I would say that's the right word. It's Rock, Paper, Scissors essentially and while you'll start having absolutely zero info on your opponents patterns, as you continue beating them you will accumulate knowledge both in the game itself and internally so that you can basically do no damage fights.
It was fine at first but as the game goes on it's a system of gameplay that's just more tedium than anything. It's neat that you basically have multiple actions per turn compared to more traditional systems, but eh, I just think the guess work for the RPS is just not that interesting in the long run.
That also moves onto the next issue I have, enemy designs. I'm not talking the enemy Servants, all of those are pretty well designed in my book but the basic Programs, the common enemy of the game, have very boring designs especially considering the environments you go through. This might be a complaint brought on by me playing Etrian Odyssey Untold only a month prior to Extra, but I really feel like there could have been more done to make the enemies pop out and feel more visually diverse than Bird, Bull, Cube. Fate is a franchise with many colorful enemy designs, and I really think it's a missed opportunity that they didn't really go all out here.
Then my final major complaint has to do with the Information Gathering. Now, I want to say that I don't think the concept is inherently bad but rather they don't go really go the distance with it in regards to what it could be. You see throughout the various weeks in this tournament, you will be collecting intel on your opponents so you can give them a thorough thrashing at the week's end. The game tries to play this off as being more difficult than it is, when in reality if you're going to the Arena every day, making sure you explore the entire school so as to not miss on events and stuff, you will get all of the info relatively easily.
I think the bigger issue though is that it all winds up feeling very samey. You'll go to the arena, encounter the enemy, get one docket of info. Then you'll have your enemy reveal something about their Servant, get another docket of info and so on and so forth until the final day arrives and you do a mini quiz to ascertain their True Name. It kind of kills the replayability of the game in a way because despite this game having 2 Routes (and 3 Playable Servants) which have separate encounters, the scenarios remain the same.
For example, in Round 4 you'll either face Li'l Ronnie and Lancer or Monji Gatou and Arcueid. Despite being entirely different characters, you'll still fight them on the first day in the arena, you'll still encounter them in the Nurse's Office, and you'll still have the enemy hunt mini game on Day 4 & 5. It results in the experience upon a replay feeling a little dulled out because it's just the exact same scenario but with a slightly different shade of paint.
I'll admit it's not the worst thing in the world, but I definitely hope that the remake irons some of this out and makes a more unique experience for both routes overall so they don't wind up feeling as samey as they do.
Onto the positives, the music in this game is fucking phenomenal, and I am currently listening to the soundtrack as I write this and it definitely is giving me the energy at 5:36 in the morning when I have only slept for like 4 hours max. Personal Favorite Tracks are Battle Theme 2, Dungeon Theme 2B, and Archer, The Hero Nobody Knows. All of the tracks are great though and do a great job illustrating the emotions of any given moment.
The narrative itself is something that I do enjoy quite a bit, even if I don't think it is the greatest story ever. You, Hakuno Kishinami, grow from a blank slate into an actualized person. This is shown in how at the start, your character is relatively flat with not many real character traits to stand out amongst the cast of colorful and zany characters. You are merely fighting to survive, with no greater wish or purpose beyond that.
But slowly, as you continue to struggle and succeed in the Grail War, Hakuno's personality begins to take shape. Their internal dialogue becomes more expressive, and they start having more of their own thoughts and feelings outside of the player. It's a scenario in which the voiceless JRPG protagonist finally gets a voice, and has their own thoughts and ideals separate from the player and I think that's a neat subversion.
The interesting thing is that I find this character growth to actually tie into the dungeon designs themselves. Near the beginning of the game, the dungeons are far more murky and filled with a looming darkness or abstraction that fits with how Hakuno's mindset of that time is like. All of the dungeons being called "Seas" also fits with this. The very first dungeon of the game has you at the very bottom of that sea, surrounded by the wreckage of various ships, with your first opponent being none other than resident shitbag, Shinji Matou.
The dungeon in particular starts with you at the top but has you sink lower as you go to face Shinji. You have the reach the depths of his lowly persona in order to defeat him. The wreckage surrounding you similar to Hakuno's feelings about the end of the Preliminaries, when hundreds of other participants were mercilessly left for dead. It's a good visual indication of our progression through the narrative I find.
By midway through the game, when Hakuno has started truly coming into their own, the dungeons start to become less abstract and begin to take on brighter and more vibrant tones. This is apparent by the fifth dungeon, where you face off against one of the long lasting threats, Julius and Assassin.
By the start of the second floor of the dungeon, you are surrounded with lush jungle greenery, a source of comfort despite facing off against a man who has killed hundreds of other competitors in this bloody war. You have your Servant, and the girl who you saved in the fourth week by your side. Unlike Julius, you are not alone. The lush greenery finally showing an acceptance of the circumstances, and a willingness to push beyond them.
Though if I had to describe a dungeon that I think perfectly encapsulates the themes of the game, that would be reserved for the Seventh. Both floors of the dungeon are vertical climbs to the top, representing the vast disparity in skill, power, and self-confidence between Hakuno and Leonardo B. Harwey, the longest lasting rival to our hero.
The first floor has Hakuno move on from the past via a rematch with Julius, and cement the bond with their Servant with a second fight against the Moon Cell itself. Slowly but surely building them up for that final confrontation.
Then, we arrive at the second floor. The shore of the sea as it were, a beautiful golden waterfall melting in a brilliant sunset. Easily the most gorgeous dungeon in the game, and visually impressive considering the hardware. The sunset beams down on the player like Leo's very presence, but still they climb.
And when you reach the top, you finally surmount him. You knock the crown off the king, and teach him the lesson of defeat. Your journey to self actualization complete.
Of course there's also the actual Final Boss, who is interesting in his own right but... well, he kind of just gets jammed in at the end. It's not like he isn't foreshadowed at all or anything but he is definitely the weakest part of the story for me despite basically being a mirror of Hakuno. It's mostly because we never see his journey to his point, and rather have it exposited to us which kind of makes it hit less hard than it could.
Either way, the actual ending is beautiful and like many other Fate endings, is definitely a highlight.
The characters are all pretty well done, there was no character who I thought was particularly bad or didn't serve a purpose in the grander narrative. I loved both of the Servant's I played with.
Saber's eccentric showman attitude was very pleasant to watch as she brutally roasted the opponents and showed the depths of her affections for Hakuno. And of course, Archer is always going to be my favorite Fate character regardless of his incarnation. His sarcasm is not lost on me, and I enjoy his banter with Hakuno and the enemy servants a lot. That and Unlimited Caladbolg Works is hilarious.
Oh yeah, the Superboss is also very cool... but I have to ask: Why is her attack named Twin Towers?
There's probably a lot more I can say about this game, from how the atmosphere of the school starting from a nice happy place to being an empty shell of its former self is great subtle horror atmosphere at work, or go more in-depth on some characters but as it is now 6 in the morning as I am at this paragraph, I think I will stop for now.
I definitely do recommend Fate/Extra if you're interested. I'm curious to see how they'll adapt it into the remake whenever that comes out, I also wonder if they'll keep Arcueid in that version honestly. Also looking forward to the English Fan Translation of Fate/Extra CCC when that gets finished by the Iwakura folks.
Anyways I should like, maybe go back to sleep... I do need to finish that Fate/Stay Night review though.