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Fate/Extra is one of those pieces of media I was always intrigued by. I mean, I could have just downloaded an emulator like PPSSPP and pirated it, but I decided to test my Japanese ability and order a retail PSP copy from Japan. I have a few things to say about this game, as it was truly a tangled up experience. For starters, the gameplay.
In Fate/Extra, you are the main character in a virtual cyberworld where you have no memories. You are informed that you are in this world to compete in a war known as the Holy Grail War. Each person involved in this 100 person battle royale must defeat 1 opponent each week, until they are the last one standing, in which they win the legendary Holy Grail. The Holy Grail can grant even the most impossible wish of anyone who touches it. You are assigned one of three servants to help you win this war: Saber, Caster, or Archer. As the master of your servant, you allow your servant to take care of all combat for you in order to grant both of your wishes by winning the war. Example pictures for each attack will be at the bottom of the page.
Where do I even begin? The combat in this game is absolutely horrible. The game goes by a sort of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" rule, in that you just guess a random move and hope it works against the enemies rock, papper, or scissors move. Of course, they could not call it this in the actual game, so they refer to it as the "Attack, Guard, Break" system. Essentially, you attack the enemy, guard against a potential attack, or attempt to shield break, whilst hoping the enemy does the weaker/opposite action to yours. If you guess incorrectly, the enemy will do extra damage to you. My biggest issue with this system is the fact that the skill factor is completely missing. Anything you do is based completely on guesswork. I wound up getting fed up near the game and taking the seemingly common advice of using CWcheat on my CFW PSP and using a cheat code to guess the correct moves.
The overworld gameplay on the other hand, I quite loved. You and your servant explore futuristic, tron-like digital worlds. I'd say this game is a dungeon crawler with RPG elements. Outside of these dungeons, known simply as "arenas", you can visit the church to level up, do side quests, or buy items in the school cafeteria shop. Take note of that last one though, as you spend most of your overworld time in this school.
The story in this game, unlike the combat, is truly amazing. I won't spoil anything, but to summarise, it is a tale which makes you question many things. "Who can I trust?" "Who sabotaged me?" "How are you here?" are all things I thought to myself as I played through. The ending of this game made me cry, I am not ashamed to admit it. The story was without a doubt the best part of this game.
Because this is a PSP game, the graphics are comparibale to that of a Playstation 2 game. For its time, it was a pretty darn great looking game. The character models are very detailed and rich with colour.
If you have not heard of this game, or if you are a pre-established Fate fan like myself, this game is worth checking out. The new game + content makes it worth going back to as well, which I am preparing to do. The story is rich, the overworld has some beautiful and colourful worlds to explore, and if you dislike the combat system, it is easy enough to remove yourself and enjoy the story.
