as i’ve begun my clearly overdue dive into the world of type-moon, i’ve stated a few times that i enjoyed games like tsukihime and kagetsu toya often in spite of themselves. i’m happy to be able to say that fate/stay night not only exceeded my expectations, but managed to be - thanks in no small part to the changes implemented in the réalta nua release of the game - the first type-moon project i wholehearted loved thoroughly to the point where i can seriously overlook what issues i do have with it more often than i can’t. despite the fact that i do find myself still a /little/ more attached to the characters of tsukihime, at least conceptually, i wholeheartedly believe fate/stay night is easily the more interesting, better written, and more fulfilling release - and it now sits comfortably among my favorite visual novels. hell, i think if i’d gotten into this in my early teenage years, around the time i was still really into shounen manga, this could’ve been a seriously formative experience for me. really bummed i missed the boat on that one. regardless, fate/stay night was an addictive experience that took me a total of eight days to read (a huge shout out to the fanmade browser port; made it way easier to read when i totally wasn’t on the clock or anything like that, because in that hypothetical situation, i couldn’t access the game itself.)
the structure of f/sn’s three major routes - fate, unlimited blade works, and heaven’s feel - is pretty interesting, because despite being just that, routes, there is a deliberate and forced order in which they are presented. there is a clear purpose for why f/sn is a decidedly more linear project than its predecessors; because despite the three routes not actually happening back-to-back, the circumstances of its protagonist shirou change and a natural evolution of his character arc and our perception of him as a person and idealist matures alongside him.
the fate route offers the game’s most traditional story - that of shirou, saber, their romance and the drama of the holy grail war. elements of this arc are decidedly by-the-numbers while maintaining integrity through really well executed action and climactic moments of emotional catharsis. it presents shirou as a naive idealist faced with a predictable hero’s story that, while not necessarily “going his way”, doesn’t do much to challenge these ideals of heroism and martyrdom he holds dear. one could even make the argument that this route deliberately justifies and enables these cornerstones of shirou’s projected disposition. to a fault, shirou maintains his white-knight virtues even when they obstruct his vision of a greater and more complex world during the fate route.
it’s with unlimited blade works where type-moon lands their first masterpiece release, in my opinion. now, in an alternative set of events, shirou aligns himself more with those who question and outright reject his line of thinking - including the critical rin tohsaka and the callous lone wolf, archer. as the gold-studded hero’s path begins to rust and shirou learns greater truths about the world, the reality of his disposition and his reliance on ideals over being actively present in the honest world, his moral whites become cloudy greys. he is forced to face himself in a battlefield of morals and question the integrity of the path he walks. the climax is nothing short of moving.
heaven’s feel deviates from the tone and presentation of the previous two routes and, to an extent, almost feels like a reworking of many of the cornerstones of tsukihime’s world, themes, and character types. an interesting concoction of near side’s horror mythos and despicable antagonists and the far side’s more intimate conversations about abuse and trauma, as well as the conflict between intent vs. actions - despite being the slowest route from a pacing perspective and (likely thanks to being such a retread of tsukihime) still managing to bump a few times on the road in the same way nasu’s earlier work did, heaven’s feel sticks the landing and manages to round out its tertiary cast in a meaningful and memorable way.
gone are the dreamy, late-summer mindscapes of tsukihime and kagetsu toya, but that’s not to say presentation is lacking here. i do prefer the look and feel of those earlier games, but fate/stay night’s loud, bombastic approach is deserved of a story with action on the scope and of the caliber as this one. fights manage to feel like big moments, and huge set piece sequences remain pretty impressive even in the current landscape of visual novels. the soundtrack is also quite good but perhaps less memorable than tsukihime’s overall for me. still, attention to details like the moving sprites, clashing and shaking of swords and weapons, thicker outlines and goofier style for the infamous tiger dojo sequences, and of course the great voice acting work all create an immersive, engaging experience befitting of such a beastly title. fate/stay night leans hard into its inspirations at times, sometimes a little too goofy shounen or adamantly sophomoric for its own good… but isn’t that reflective of shirou, and thus the target audience themselves? as i said at the start - i think this game should’ve been something i experienced earlier on in my life, because i think it could’ve been seriously formative for me. even now though, i think it really holds up and cements type-moon overall as a studio with a series that i really do care about quite a bit.
the structure of f/sn’s three major routes - fate, unlimited blade works, and heaven’s feel - is pretty interesting, because despite being just that, routes, there is a deliberate and forced order in which they are presented. there is a clear purpose for why f/sn is a decidedly more linear project than its predecessors; because despite the three routes not actually happening back-to-back, the circumstances of its protagonist shirou change and a natural evolution of his character arc and our perception of him as a person and idealist matures alongside him.
the fate route offers the game’s most traditional story - that of shirou, saber, their romance and the drama of the holy grail war. elements of this arc are decidedly by-the-numbers while maintaining integrity through really well executed action and climactic moments of emotional catharsis. it presents shirou as a naive idealist faced with a predictable hero’s story that, while not necessarily “going his way”, doesn’t do much to challenge these ideals of heroism and martyrdom he holds dear. one could even make the argument that this route deliberately justifies and enables these cornerstones of shirou’s projected disposition. to a fault, shirou maintains his white-knight virtues even when they obstruct his vision of a greater and more complex world during the fate route.
it’s with unlimited blade works where type-moon lands their first masterpiece release, in my opinion. now, in an alternative set of events, shirou aligns himself more with those who question and outright reject his line of thinking - including the critical rin tohsaka and the callous lone wolf, archer. as the gold-studded hero’s path begins to rust and shirou learns greater truths about the world, the reality of his disposition and his reliance on ideals over being actively present in the honest world, his moral whites become cloudy greys. he is forced to face himself in a battlefield of morals and question the integrity of the path he walks. the climax is nothing short of moving.
heaven’s feel deviates from the tone and presentation of the previous two routes and, to an extent, almost feels like a reworking of many of the cornerstones of tsukihime’s world, themes, and character types. an interesting concoction of near side’s horror mythos and despicable antagonists and the far side’s more intimate conversations about abuse and trauma, as well as the conflict between intent vs. actions - despite being the slowest route from a pacing perspective and (likely thanks to being such a retread of tsukihime) still managing to bump a few times on the road in the same way nasu’s earlier work did, heaven’s feel sticks the landing and manages to round out its tertiary cast in a meaningful and memorable way.
gone are the dreamy, late-summer mindscapes of tsukihime and kagetsu toya, but that’s not to say presentation is lacking here. i do prefer the look and feel of those earlier games, but fate/stay night’s loud, bombastic approach is deserved of a story with action on the scope and of the caliber as this one. fights manage to feel like big moments, and huge set piece sequences remain pretty impressive even in the current landscape of visual novels. the soundtrack is also quite good but perhaps less memorable than tsukihime’s overall for me. still, attention to details like the moving sprites, clashing and shaking of swords and weapons, thicker outlines and goofier style for the infamous tiger dojo sequences, and of course the great voice acting work all create an immersive, engaging experience befitting of such a beastly title. fate/stay night leans hard into its inspirations at times, sometimes a little too goofy shounen or adamantly sophomoric for its own good… but isn’t that reflective of shirou, and thus the target audience themselves? as i said at the start - i think this game should’ve been something i experienced earlier on in my life, because i think it could’ve been seriously formative for me. even now though, i think it really holds up and cements type-moon overall as a studio with a series that i really do care about quite a bit.