Going through Fate/Extra in a new save with Caster felt like a different experience. It was painful at the beginning but me, being a totally normal person, grinded to unlock all her skills and raise Magic stats to the point by mid to late game I was overleveled.

But yeah, I love Tamamo. I've already loved her before but I finally did her Matrix Event without messing up this time. A certified Chiwa Saito classic. I also love Rani and in my opinion, fits this game's story more than Tohsaka. Hakuno Kishinami is still top 5 best Type-Moon protagonist of all time.

I really going to miss OG Extra's music. It's one of a kind so going through the game made me appreciate it a lot more. Sad to see it go in Record remake.

My take on its infamous gameplay is that it's satisfying when you don't have someone screaming in your ear about how bad it is. It's not perfect, when you gotta grind for levels you gotta take the time to learn the patterns each time you go to a new Arena so it can get tedious but a lot of it's shortcomings are negated by the existence of Skills. By midgame, you don't need to worry learning patterns and just spam Skills.

Fate/Extra is truly underappreciated game. I always felt it gets overshadowed by its sequel but I think it still holds up well today. It's story, characters, and music really moved me. It's definitely one of my favorite Fate spin-offs or even Type-Moon works in general. I can't wait to play Fate/Extra Record when it comes out in 2049.

A really good plot hindered by its gratuitous amount of torture porn. Don't get me wrong though, I love the story and its few notable character like Shoujo and Carol. The villains were fun especially Brian but I wish there more scenes developing the other Witches instead of being subjugated with 50 torture scenes.

On that topic, I really do feel like the torture scenes hold this VN a lot because not only are they really dragged out, it really ruins the pacing especially in the final acts of the normal and true routes. One thing Clockup works don't get enough credit is there insanely cracked voice acting. Everyone here gave it their all and I'm also happy that some male character including the protagonist is voice acted(something I wish Euphoria had).

I feel really torn about Maggot Baits but I really liked the story and characters overall. With Dead Days around the corner I'm really excited to dig into that one one since its by the same writer as MB(more tamed by looks of it).

This time I tried to do more side stuff, which can feel like a grind (cough Riddler cough), but the assassin's mission are fun. If anything I always go back to this for the story alone, making a year 2 story set in Christmas is brilliant. I love how the bosses feel so different, how Bane isn't a mute brute, how Roger and Troy went crazy and how every character is soooo animated and Bats skips frames in beatdowns, recently I don't understand the need for photo realism in comic book games.

It's buggy as hell though and that's why I'm so annoying about a remaster. I'll eventually get to City and Knight but eh, I'll still think about Origins as my favorite ( ´ ω ` )

A phenomenal sequel to OG, did Normal/Gilgamesh End, Hakuno's story and character being further heightened in a new way here. This is a "new" Hakuno that goes through different events but still feels Hakuno at their very core. Developing new bonds and remixing old dynamics at the same time allowing for everything to feel new and fresh. They continue to be one of my all time favorite MCs in CCC.

Gilgamesh was an amazing servant. Him not being in OG makes him feel very fresh and even compared to other Gilgamesh appearances, his bond with Hakuno is so fun to watch develop. He shows a wide range of emotions, his usual calm, composed demeanor often broken by various actions and characters. Getting to see his backstory in this game is really cool as it's presented very well. He has so many fun interactions with other characters as well, Shinji, BB and the Egos, Rin etc. Getting his point of view, that of the undisputed King of Heroes was fun and his personality and status very much feel opposite of Hakuno, resulting in funny and meaningful moments.

The rest of the cast is much better in this game I feel. Certain characters like Rani, Rin and Julius don't have as much focus or as much time as OG (respectively) but they get incredible moments regardless even if their role is different here. Shinji, Julius, Gatou and Rin have some incredible content here. Shinji being the most improved from OG to CCC.

Jinako is a great new character for the main cast. I enjoyed her content and her dynamic with Karna as like, the ultimate mismatch Master and Servant. Her scenes with Hakuno and Shinji were great too. Love her backstory and how it works with her character in the story.

Kiara and Andersen were fun too, I know Kiara gets more stuff in CCC ending so I'll see that soon. But she was still very interesting here and clearly set up to be more so it isn't a surprise she has more going on. Andersen was a very interesting servant as being strictly non combat was fun and his perspective was fun to hear. His scene with Melt was peak.

BB, Meltlilith and Passionlip were all great antagonists. I know BB gets more stuff in CCC ending probably but she's still great here. Her bright and bubbly and twisted personality allows her to have a really commanding presence in all of her scnenes. She's always fun and creative and entertaining while still having serious undertones and intimidating power. Meltlilith and Passionlip both had great stories as well that I liked a lot. Different sides of a coin that tie into the game's themes well.

Sakura is great here, she'll get more in CCC ending I assume but I really like her relationship with Hakuno already, Hakuno being the only one who paid her any attention when she needed it, Hakuno caring how she's treated by others even their friends, etc. Seeing Sakura put on her bravest face constantly when met with her fellow Sakura based AIs was hard to watch sometimes but also really interesting.

Elizabeth was a really fun servant antagonist, being passed around to different masters let her personality really get shown off on all fronts, changing how the cast and player views her over time. Loved her last story section a lot.

Gameplay wise it's more fun than OG as it's more refined, Gilgamesh's skills are pretty fun, his animations are cool and his Noble Phantasm is very funny.

Acquiring Secret Gardens and punishing your opponents was a pretty fun way to handle climactic scenes. My only issue gameplay wise is the requirements for Gil's SG and ending were just an unnecessary thing to think about, really should have just been part of the story imo.

OST, animations and Voice Work all great too.

Really fell into the themes of this game a lot more than OG as I feel they're stronger and more apparent and I love OG's. But CCC's display of love in various forms was really interesting to me. Characters like Lip, Melt, Elizabeth, Kiara etc. All showing different variations of toxic love was great. Some purposefully destructive, some accidentally destructive, some manipulative, some naive. I feel it'll be even better in CCC ending so I'm excited for that. I do feel Normal end felt a little weaker, while good it definitely just feels like it's shouting that there's another ending at you. Gilgamesh's was good too but not his best content.

All in all another phenomenal Fate/Extra experience that will only get better as I continue.

I love you Hakunk Kishinami.

For once I want to write something lengthy

• Combat is some of the best in a third person shooter, menu herb mixing while doing context sensitive finishers and crowd control never gets old. Mercenaries shines as is just a few open maps with all of this in mind

• The campaigns made me realize that the game hates itself? Driving sections, walking segments, puzzles while in combat, narrow corridors, QTEs that make you fail instantly, I know they were trying to appeal to literally everyone but it makes everything a jumbled insufferable mess to play

• Story is madness: a dude that is such a gooner for Ada that he ends up cloning her, then the clone starts international apocalypse and everyone gets caught up in it. The lost son of Albert Wesker who knows super jujitsu has the cure on his blood so time to get him. It's funny and the direction is almost as stylish as the Paul Anderson movies, and I say almost because 4 campaigns of varying quality (Jake's the best) plus repeated cutscenes make me feel exhausted by the end and a good chunk of them are such a slog because they built the story around key moments while disregarding all else. Plus the bosses. won't dieeeee aaaaaaaa

A game so nice to play that I never want to play again, if it makes sense. No Jake-Sherry sequel but we got first person games with a faceless dude. Ok poopcom