So I'm currently reading through fate zero then going to watch the anime, I already played Fate stay night and hollow ataraxia vns, OG tsukihime, and Mahoyo, plan to read Kara no kyoukai.

But I was curious about the other fate spin-offs, so my questions are

1: do you need to read some of them before others, like for example El melloi the 2nd before Fate Strange Fake

2: in the case of like Fate Apocrypha is it better to read only the ln because I've heard people say the anime is bad, what other ones are like that.

3: Is it good to read the lns then watch the anime adaptations so I get both the narrative and visual sides of it. I personally think vns are great because of the reason of having a novel but also visual elements to truly immerse yourself into the world.

4: relating somewhat to 2 is there a order you recommend for spinoffs, I figured I would read Kara no kyoukai and play Kagetsu tohya first before getting into fate spin-offs but I figured I would read prisma illya and fate strange fake because those I've been told are ready good.

EMIYA and Karna looks soo good... and Gilgamesh is just there. 🙄

So after everything hits the fan with Gil saying he basically wants to commit genocide and to her knowledge the only people to stop Him is Saber, Shirou, & Rin why doesn't she reach out to the church or clocktower or smthn like if they fail (which lets be so fr is practically guaranteed but yk Gil being Gil) like shes smart and capable but at the end of the day they tryna stop one of the Strongest servants and a tainted grail and they think an above avg mage, a strong servant, and a borderline suicidal sword obsessed freak that are all practically all sharing and relying on Rins mana pool (while buffing Shirou to an extent is kinda nerfing all of them in the process)

While I am just having fun I know its for the plot to play out as intended I am curios if this ever got addressed in other projects or in the VN and given an explanation, and if not what're your thoughts on the matter? is it just oh HGW gotta stay secret even if the worlds in danger, oh surly another guardian will step in (omg that was her plan from her perspective if she doom humanity maybe Archer would be re-summoned to save it), or does she just have the "Nah I'd Win" mentality?

Edit:

Just in case this needs to be said: No I didn't want some external force to just clean everything up in a nice bow, Rin & Shirou are MY GOATS and I'm aware of how strong Saber is but its more about the stakes and that this is GILGAMESH they talked about how screwed they could be calling him WAR ITSELF so its more that it felt off to me knowing the stakes we didn't see an attempt (even if meaningless) to have some sort of help especially given how thorough Rin can be at times.

Time period: Also yeah Ik it's 2004 so tech isn't what it is now but like you're telling me there's no way to send like a magic letter or morse code or smthn (half joking)

Connections or lack there of: Like I said this was more for jokes than anything else but ty to those who have answers about the Church and Clocktower being a pain to contact and actually get help from (I kinda already knew but extra context is nice) Also she end up going to the clocktower like a year later or smthn anyway, I'm assuming that doesn't just happen overnight so I thought she'd have at least a connection to them no? So does Rin genuinely have no Mage connections at that point (genuine question here)? Either through her dad/his notes and stuff left behind or Kirei I know Kirei wasn't the best of teachers due to him yk being Kirei and having own plans but like I just woulda thought she'd have gotten smthn from him. also I saw smthn saying the grail war is seen as a nothing burger or rin having no pull ITS LIKE THE END OF THE WORLD AT STAKE surly they'd know how much destruction a powerful mage can do now add the context of these are some of the strongest mages and warriors IN HISTORY and the one in question BEING PART GOD and the clock tower has people like Waver who have seen some of this stuff first hand and how much can go wrong

About the distance: I know the clocktower is in England but my point was more about having connections to mages across the world like in Japan or like idk teleportation magic if that's a thing in the Nasuverse, also I'm aware even if there was someone who was available it doesn't mean they'd be much use but something is better than nothing

Edit 2: IM AWARE THEY PROBABLY WOULDNT HAVE DONE ANYTHING NOR WOULD I WANT THEM TO I APPRECIATE WHAT THEY DID WITH THE NARRATIVE. I am NOT asking why they didn't step in it is purely about why Rin didn't even try to get ANY external help because she does not know as much as we know about certain things like Alaya or the nature of the grail from what she knows shit is getting real they have not the greatest odds of winning and if they lose from what THEY KNOW a the largest genocide ever will happen.

On the 3rd day of the UBW route, at the end of “VS Berserker/Distortion (II)”, when Shirou falls unconscious, the screen just permanently becomes black and none of the buttons work. Why does this happen and how do I fix it?

I am currently playing the original pc release of the game. I just finished night 12, where Saber recovers her magic energy through a fairly lengthy nsfw sequence. It my opinion it killed the pacing of the moment and wasn’t very valuable narratively. I understand that future releases would have removed this sequence and replaced it with something else, which I would like to become more familiar with. My question is how exactly did they do it? I can’t find a direct answer online and I don’t want to replay the whole thing at this point. Is this the only reason it was established that saber and emiya have an unusual magic connection? If not how does she heal in the alternate scene? Are there any major ways in which the story changes? Please don’t give any spoilers past night 12 as I am still making my way through the game.

Edit: also have the authors ever discussed their original intentions with this story? did they censor the original to make it more marketable, or did they change it to what it was always meant to be once it was popular?

Now HOOOOLD on a minute, no i dont think i am smarter than nasu, no i could not write a better story than nasu in fact i could never really write an original story like that even if i tried for 10 years, in fact i dont actually have valid idea for how my problems with story could have been fixed

If you disagree attack the argument rather than attacking me

I recently finished fate visual novel fate route and ubw and thats after rewatching fate zero and i have some problems with how both nasu and whoever made fate zero portray saber

And from my understanding this is controversial but i have BIGGER problems with nasu version of saber

So here's the massive wall of text:

So what i see in fate route is that shirou is like a (or is supposed to be) mirror for saber to realize that self sacrificing is wrong and she also deserves to be happy,

now reason why i think shirou is wrong for being self sacrificing is because it is not expected of him, he is forcefully indepting people he saves by sacrificing himself, good people do not like seeing others go through pain because of them which shirou ignores,

however king is a role that requires self sacrifice, us people give you the total control over our own lives which you can command to your will and price for that is that you in stead must sacrifice yourself for our good. untill the people who give you power are not happy you are not allowed to be happy either, (ye i know this never happened ever, kings never saw the role of ruling the country as what i defined here but i think thats what being king SHOULD be)

thats the difference, shirou can't be mirror of arthur as the balance is different,

seeing a man who you owe nothing to sacrifice himself for your own good can be traumatizing

seeing a person upholding her end if the contract by sacrificing her human emotions to act for what she was chosen to, is inspiring which should give someone confidence, if arthur was king you can follow her because as long as she is in power she will do everything in her power to make as happy, hell that is someone worth sacrificing myself over because i know that she will fight for better future for those that will come after me

Feels like both fate zero and nasu is just gaslighting saber into believing she was at any fault, as if country fell because she was too perfect,

Now i can understand if what they meant was that she was expecting her own citizens to be as perfect as herself and was tyrannical ruler who punished people for not being perfect as she was but from what i know that wasnt the case she was actual perfect ruler.

Makes the round table look completely corrupt or stupid for rebelling. Only reason someone would start rebellion against such king would be because corrupt people being angry rather than "king doesn't understand us".

Like round table got angry that their favourite king was selflessly throwing away her human emotions for country? Like isn't that her JOB?? Why the hell is she portrayed as someone who made a mistake, especially in fate zero,

Man i do hate fate zero too, people love banquet of kings but it seems ridiculous to me, we have a murderous genocidial maniac who caused immense devastation in his life and basically destroyed a culture that was in some ways better than what he followed imo and tyrannical gilgamesh before he became wise king who realized that only way to immortality would be to live for his people and city and leave greatness of his name to future civilizations

Scolding a king who values his nation above anything, why the hell is arthur portrayed as scolded child here? Idk

this is why for me unlimited blade works shines cause i dont really see a fkaw in its setup, or at least my understanding of it, archer is self conscious of the absolutely toxic idealistic way his younger self viewed things and deeply hates himself

emyia by the end when the final clash between archer and shirou happens is someone who has accepted the fact that his wish and ideals are toxic and unrealistic and unatainable, he is being selfish in that he wishes to live selfless life even if it hurts people who loves him, he doesn't care if idea ever comes true as what he sees beautiful is the process of following that ideal rather than finally achieving it,

meanwhile archer is someone who holds same ideal but wants the end result specifically and is deeply broken by the fact that it can never be realized, and also the fact that the idealistic reasoning is what got him into his current situation where he has to endlessly kill,

If shirou was in denial and was ignorant about the flaws in his ideal then it would be a flaw but since by the end of ubw he accepts the ideal even with its many flaws its different

its like someone loving someone because they have idealized version of them in their head not realizing that that person will never make them happy

vs

loving someone while fully understanding their short commings and being happy just by following them and being with them

Thats my interpretation of ubw and its reason why i love it and thats why its the GOAT

As for heavens feel idk what thats about only seen the movies and never really gave it a thought

This concludes my propaganda on why you should prefer UBW over other routes

And best girl was and always will be the goat himself, archer EMIYA

I heard the remaster changed a lot of things about the story, mostly removing nsfw stuff, which one is the better story overall? And where can I play the original if I end up choosing it?

I’m usually a dub watcher. I know there’s a lot of people that claim this is blasphemy but I rather watch my anime than read it. I know some dubs are ridiculously bad but most modern anime is pretty well dubbed. Anyway, I was watching Fate/Zero subbed in the UK as there’s no dub due to licensing issues. However, mid season today, all the episodes just became available in dub. So it seems now it is available for any other Fate fans who prefer dub and are also on UK / Ireland / EU.

Fate/EXTRA's lore differs from the original Fate/stay night, from the story's actual setting to its background world.

Nasu: It shares the concept of the Holy Grail War and similar characters, but Fate/EXTRA is set on an alternate world to Fate/stay night. In Fate/EXTRA's timeline, a major incident in the 1970s triggered the slow depletion of the entire world's mana. The idea is that history branches from there, forming a world that walked a very different path from Fate/stay night's. And by 2030, Fate/EXTRA's year, mana is already completely depleted and mages can't practice magecraft, but they're still alive and reinvented as people who operate in digital worlds.

Was this near-future setting Niinou's idea?

Nasu: Yes. The first proposal document he presented to me already designated the story's year as 2030. But he had a somewhat strange picture of this future: he wanted us to keep the civilization level exactly as it currently instead depicting our usual idea of a futuristic world. He said he wanted us adrift in a claustrophobic world where time progressed but civilization didn't. There are many possible reasons why the civilization level would stagnate, but to have an easily understandable main cause, I decided to introduce a world-ruling European conglomerate seizing command with the goal of stabilizing the state of the world. The European countries under the Western Plutarchy's control are stable societies under complete regulation. They can be considered a form of utopia, but contrast with the capitalist system, where individual effort and capability has the potential to grant power. Meanwhile, things aren't calm on the territories outside the Western Plutarchy's domain. The world structure is divided between countries under the Western Plutarchy's control vs all others.

Can you give us more details on what kind of organization the Western Plutarchy is?

Nasu: To put it simply, it's a cooperative body centered around our current developed nations, united to take control of the economic systems. While this isn't something depicted in Fate/EXTRA's story, the Holy Church from Fate/stay night is actually still active as a powerful organization deeply associated with the core of the Western Plutarchy. 2030 is a post-religion era, but religion is at the root of what rules the world… That's one piece of lore that's still on vague terms even inside my own head (laughs).

I had no idea this was part of the background for how the Western Plutarchy formed… Does that mean that the Holy Church is effectively controlling the world from the shadows?

Nasu: No, I wouldn't go that far. They have a lot of clout there, yes, but they're just one branch of the Western Plutarchy like any other. You have all sectors there constantly trying to trick each other to gain greater power.

Then what about the Holy Church's foil, the Mage's Association?

Nasu: The Western Plutarchy dismantled the Mage's Association after they lost power due to the mana depletion. In short, the conflict between the two major organizations ended in the Holy Church's victory after they gained a powerful backer. But the mages who survived their pursuit escaped to the Middle East, where the Western Plutarchy holds no influence. Later, the people seeking to restore the Mage's Association came together, united the people dissatisfied with the Western Plutarchy, and formed their resistance organization, the Liberation Front.

Right, the core of the Liberation Front were remnants of the Mage's Association. What's the power balance between the Western Plutarchy and the Liberation Front like?

Nasu: The Western Plutarchy, having wealth and plentiful resources, operates at higher standards on every matter. But despite their superior quantity, they have practically no outstandingly capable "triple ace fighters" like Rin. Conversely, the Liberation Front is far behind in numbers and equipment, but they got their few units on Rin's remarkable level of prowess scattered here and there. It's a battle of quantity vs quality. That said, the Liberation Front has no chance in an honest battle, and the Western Plutarchy is guaranteed to win the long-term battle if they let it extend that far. That's why the Liberation Front has to attack from the internet, using high-level Wizards to engage them in digital guerrilla warfare. That said, the damage they deal can only go so far, since intel warfare is not enough to collapse an organization as big as the Western Plutarchy.

I see that the battle between the Mage's Association and the Holy Church continued into 2030, albeit in a different shape. But how is the other organization, the Atlas Institute, doing?

Nasu: The Atlas Institute remained the same alchemy research institution it always was. This is mostly because alchemy is usable without relying on magical energy, enabling them to continue into their particular path even in this era.

Did any mage chased out of the Mage's Association seek asylum in the Atlas Institute?

Nasu: That wouldn't happen. The Atlas Institute is an organization with no ties to anything. Think of it as black box of history. Mages can't simply join it just because they want to. They're that kind of closed borders society where visitors are refused and no one in gets to leave. You could say that, while the state of the world changed immensely, they grew independent from it by persisting in their policy of "not my problem".

How did the mana drought change the mages?

Nasu: Magic Circuits are a biological function that people created in their bodies to enact magecraft. Thus, even without the mana to operate them, the Magic Circuits themselves are still live and ready to be used. From there, the new application they crafted for their Magic Circuits was hacking into the online world. In Fate/EXTRA's timeline, these new mages, now called wizards, can convert their souls into spiritrons and Shift them to the digital world. With the introduction of this new trick, the mages gained faster and more advanced means to self-digitize.

You said that are multiple capable mages in the Liberation Front side, but does the Western Plutarchy not have any means to resist against them?

Nasu: They're lagging behind the Liberation Front in mage quality and quantity, but the Western Plutarchy has abundant funds. I can imagine a few mages would be willing to help the Plutarchy if their interests aligned. Those people serve as the obstacles that are keeping the Liberation Front from easily breaking the battle's status quo.

Now I'm getting a much more vivid image of the world structure for the Fate/EXTRA timeline. But that's not the only thing that's different. In Fate/EXTRA, the very format of the Holy Grail and Holy Grail War are different from Fate/stay night.

Nasu: Fate/stay night's Holy Grail is a very literal wish-granter, using the vast pool of magical energy from 7 Heroic Spirits to realize a wish. But Fate/EXTRA's Holy Grail is, putting it in unflattering terms, just a computing machine. The catch is that the volume of data it has is incredibly vast, its core has been constantly producing a database of every human being since the dawn of history, and it has an astronomical amount of processes simulating all events that will happen one minute in the future. They say in-game that whoever obtains the Grail will even be able to rewrite events, but strictly speaking, they'll only be gaining the means to find their desired future in the vast library of simulation samples and make it into reality. For a general example, if the holder of the Grail wished for a future where they became king of the world, it would display the foolproof solution to reaching it. It will take time, but reality will be inescapably moving in its owner's desired direction. Nonetheless, this is all thanks to the features of the Mooncell. Since the device was not intended to be anything more than a record container documenting human history nonstop, it leaves the decision of how to use its Holy Grail function up to its holder.

The format of the Holy Grail War to decide its holder is also pretty different from Fate/stay night's.

Nasu: Fate/stay night's Holy Grail War is different down to its purpose. In Fuyuki's Holy Grail War, they enacted a battle between 7 Masters and Servants to obtain the energy necessary to grant a wish. Meanwhile, in Fate/EXTRA's Holy Grail War, the setup is to conduct a battle using Heroic Spirits as a means to select a worthy holder for the Holy Grail. That's why, instead of limiting the competitors to just 7, it's programmed so any mage who tries to access the Holy Grail can be a Master. However, there was a trial arranged to screen the candidates to some extent and cull the Masters that don't meet the power baseline before proceeding with the tournament.

Next, I'd like to ask a few questions about the characters in Fate/EXTRA. First, how did Red Saber's character come to be?

Nasu: Red Saber had already been drawn by Wada by the time Niinou presented Fate/EXTRA's first project pitch to me. I remember being quite shocked when I first saw her. The idea of a red Saber was impacting, obviously, but what also got me was her revealing visuals and her True Name. When it was decided that I would have to personally write the script, I was so lost on what to do with her (laughs). Red Saber is a figure famous for very different reasons from Fate/stay night's Arthuria, so I warned Niinou that it wouldn't be easy to make an appealing heroine out of someone so full of legends about his failings as a statesman. But my impressions gradually changed as I researched this hero more. She got slapped with the label of tyrant by the future generations because, in life, she persecuted the believers of the largest and most influential religion of her time, but many researchers believe the facts have been distorted by the chroniclers. This hero's appraisal continues to change even in recent years, with some proposing the opinion that he was a relatively competent statesman. His egocentric behavior showed often, but he had many friends, was tremendously popular among the masses, and made a name for himself in the neighboring nations, too. You know someone with nothing but shortcomings wouldn't be this well documented.

A figure with a relatively negative historical image, but a lot of interesting characterization points you can pick up.

Nasu: The more you research this individual, the more something other than the face of a tyrant comes to light. The profile of an emperor who wanted to be loved and respect by the masses at all costs. In short, we're talking about an attention-seeker with more power than one should have. In a time singers and performers were disdained professions, this person hosted recitals and supervised athletic meets, trying to appeal to the masses with every manner of self-promoting events. As I continued to find this facet, her image solidified as a heroine in a completely different lane from Arthuria's. By that I mean: a needy puppy. I was unsure of myself when I started writing the script, but thankfully, her character turned out to be charming and unlike anyone in Type-Moon's previous roster. Writing her has been a very enjoyable experience, personally speaking.

Next, on the other female Servant, Caster.

Nasu: It had been the decided since the start of the writing phase that I'd be handling Red Saber, but Caster had another writer working on her. Or rather, I decided it was for the best to leave Caster in someone else's hands. Because Niinou's proposal read "I want Caster to be just a cutie with a kimono and animal ears, without any catch to her sweetness". I thought there was nothing wrong in occasionally featuring an adorable animal girl played completely straight, aimed directly at the hearts of the male playerbase, but I don't know how to write characters without mixing in a few controversial traits. However, I had to take over Caster's story partway through the process because her personality was lacking compared to Red Saber, who had her more extreme character traits baked in from inception, and Archer, who was already very popular in Fate/stay night.

Was there anything you hesitated to do with this character because you were continuing another writer's work?

Nasu: The concept art Wada Arco drew for her was so sharp that I reworked her character concept from scratch in order to do it justice. I did hesitate on the question of how venomous the girl should be allowed to be, but the route I went for at the end of the day was making her a character meant for the fans who enjoyed Type-Moon's flavor both at its sweetest and at its most bitter. Thus, the fox girl took shape, not as a simple flirting sycophant, but as a foxy sweetheart with a self-serving "make Master love me no matter the cost" allure. While Red Saber is a character I wrote knowing in my heart that she would be a hit, Caster is one I wrote begging in my prayers that she could stick the landing. That's how unpredictable this character's reception was.

Caster turned out an incredible character in the final release. Lastly, there's Archer. What changed from Fate/stay night for his depiction in Fate/EXTRA?

Nasu: He and Fate/stay night's Archer are technically the same person, but here his True Name is kept unrevealed both inside and outside the game. He exists as the proxy for all nameless heroes who martyred themselves for justice but weren't recognized for it. That's why Archer lacks the True Name he was meant to have. It's not that he won't reveal his True Name, it's that he doesn't have one. Not having a True Name is that Heroic Spirit's badge of honor. The idea is that applying this plot point to his character profile allows his character to function without turning Fate/stay night into a required read, while still letting the Fate/stay night players piece together that, despite having no True Name, Archer is exactly who they think he is.

On that note, I felt like Fate/EXTRA's Archer mellowed out a bit compared to his Fate/stay night appearance. Anything to say on that?

Nasu: His deepest desire in Fate/stay night was to eliminate himself, and since that conflict is now resolved, he can come off as softer around the edges in Fate/EXTRA. It's easy to mistake Archer's harsh comments for pure insults, but that's him offering honest advice because he cares too much. So, depending on how you choose to look at it, you can imagine him as a grumpy grandpa telling you off (laughs).

I'd like to ask a few questions about Rin and Rani, the closest we have to official love interests in Fate/EXTRA. What kind of girl is Rin being depicted as in the Fate/EXTRA timeline?

Nasu: Rin from the world of Fate/EXTRA was raised in a different environment and fights as a member of the Liberation Front, but on a soul level, she has the exact same personality as Fate/stay night's Rin. If the original Rin peeked into this timeline, she'd only be surprised to see herself blonde and working for some resistance movement.

Why is she fighting against the Western Plutarchy?

Nasu: Her publicly stated reason is for business. As for the real motive in her private thoughts, Rin is a person driven by progress and evolution, with a creed to always advance forward. Therefore, she can't find anything positive in the Western Plutarchy as an organization single-mindedly seeking stagnation and stability. In other words, resisting that giant Plutarchy is the only way Rin can remain Rin.

What does the ideal world Rin is fighting for look like?

Nasu: In the simplest terms possible, she only wants a future. To see where mankind's progress is going to take them. The Western Plutarchy stagnated the civilization level to preserve the remaining resources for as long as they can, but Rin has far less respect for Earth's resources. In her opinion, they should simply eat through them and hop to another planet already. Additionally, the future she desires is one where everyone operates at their own risk and responsibility, which is not an ideal that guarantees a happy life for everyone. People can climb as high as their effort and capabilities allow, but the powerless will be left behind. Despite this, Rin still favors progress over stagnation.

A philosophy that fits the harsh treatment Rin gives to both herself and others. Next, on the other heroine, Rani.

Nasu: Rani is a homunculus made by the Atlas Institute. The Atlas Institute still has the know-how necessary to make homunculi, but unfortunately doesn't have the ingredients anymore, making Rani the de facto last of her kind. The alchemist serving as her mentor originally built her to be a prototype for future models specialized in battles of intellect.

Was Rani created for the purpose winning the Holy Grail War and taking the Holy Grail?

Nasu: No, there was nothing suggesting that. You need to understand that her mentor saw her more as her daughter than as her creation. Her reason to send Rani to the Holy Grail War now is that she can't keep taking care of Rani forever, since she doesn't have long left to live. The hidden message here is wanting Rani to find her own life purpose before losing her. However, Rani only joined the battle because her mentor told her to, and she has no emotional attachment to any of it. She entered the fight because she was ordered, and entering a fight means winning, she robotically thinks. The core of Rani's story lies on what her first contact with the outside world will make her feel, and how that will change her.

We got many other rich characters in the enemy roster, aside from the two main girls. Which one would you say has the deepest personality?

Nasu: You know the answer can only be Gatou Monji (laughs). Writing Gatou was so much fun. He's a character I invented on the fly once I noticed partway through Fate/EXTRA's production that we didn't have any big idiot in the cast, but he was actually amazing. Onlookers can't tell if he's joking or if he's naturally weird like that, but Gatou always means every word he says. He passed through every religion in the world in search for the quintessence of enlightenment, and as his outfit confirms, he even dabbled with the spiritual world of the Native Americans in the Texan desert. That's how he ultimately reached the virtual world, which raises a lot of questions about his outlook on religions (laughs).

Gatou is quite the crazy one. It's not anyone who gets to be Arcueid's Master.

Nasu: Gatou has this one character trait I randomly came up with while drinking in a party and didn't get to show in the story. His characterization is the way it is because he always put 100% of his energy into everything he does, but when he takes himself just a slight bit less seriously, he's suddenly a different man: a sage of genuine virtue and knowledge. You won't believe how much of a true Saint he can be if he cools down (laughs)!

I'd love to see this gimmick in an anthology or similar spin-off (laughs).

Nasu: Ronnie and Lancer's relationship is another personal favorite of mine. We never see what Ronnie's face looks like under her clown makeup, but Niinou's pre-production profile says she's incredibly gorgeous. That said, never showing her face in-game was also part of Niinou's demands in the proposal.

I was really looking forward to seeing Ronnie's face, so it was disappointing to me that it never got revealed (laughs).

Nasu: Being a cannibal was the only character trait written on her description at the earliest stage of production. But as I was writing the story, I decided to shift lanes after mulling over the idea that Lancer would never be drawn to a woman who is just a horror movie monster. Her love crossed the line, driving her to grow unable to eat anything other than people she loves, yet after she treaded the tightrope of morality with pained steps, she found herself unable to eat them and fell anorexic. She's a martyr to her own morals, so to speak. I thought that, if anyone could strike Lancer's heart after a whole life fighting for his faith, capped off by his death to an ambush from the nobles, it had to be a woman resolute enough to hold her convictions above her life.

I personally noticed you putting a lot of effort into writing the relationship between Leo and Julius.

Nasu: That's because Julius is that kind of antihero where the more you write, the more new ideas come up. There's even a case where I was test-playing an otherwise finished game, and that got me going "No, Julius's monologue is better the other way", so I wrote and sent a revised script without asking for permission. Since Leo is so flawless a boy, I wanted to characterize his foil Julius as a symbol of human weakness and ugliness. Leo, in contrast, is the figure so devoid of unpleasantness that it turns into its own kind of unpleasantness that still doesn't look unpleasant on a second look. The player is not supposed to hate him, but they're not supposed to like him either. I put a lot of care into making him not come off as your typical model student, but rather as someone so perfect that it feels alien. I suppose good point of comparison for his general image would be calling him Arthuria's final form. If Arthuria's kingship interpreted human happiness as collective rather than individual, much like Leo's does, perhaps she wouldn't have suffered as much as she did.

Leo, the perfect ultimate, versus Julius, the symbol of humanity's negative aspects. I really get that "light and shadow" feel from this pair.

Nasu: I have a major regret concerning Leo. It's too late to go back and fix it, but I should have made Leo a girl. Imagine a twist revealing that what appeared to be a boy of exemplary behavior was actually a girl. Think of how hard this would have stolen the hearts of the male playerbase…!

Leo as a crossdresser!? Yeah, that would have been quite the waifu-making twist! Next, who among Niinou's proposed Servants evoked the biggest "I can't believe you're bringing me this hero!" reaction from you?

Nasu: While this idea went unused, I was shocked to hear him suggest a Servant from the future (laughs). I supposed the next best has to be Assassin-sensei. I was also a big fan of that historical figure, knowing him from several books and manga, but the idea of making him a Servant had never occurred to me. When you think of a Servant, you imagine someone more legendary, no? Him, however, is a completely real person, alive until just a few decades ago. But on further thought, Assassin-sensei did leave behind many legends through out his life, and he certainly lived a sublime enough life, so his portrayal as a Heroic Spirit came naturally to me. The only difficulty that came with adapting an objectively real person as a video game character was in me wanting to make him important enough that I wouldn't feel like I'm insulting his history.

Fate/EXTRA introduces its own original class, Savior. What were you trying to accomplish by making Savior the enemy the player character has to fight in the climax?

Nasu: Contrary to Fate/stay night's Holy Grail War, where the goal was to realize a generational wish by obtaining the Holy Grail, Fate/EXTRA's Holy Grail War is about the battle itself. So what is the last thing a Heroic Spirit has to overcome after traversing this whole thorny path and reaching the final destination? No other option felt as right as the Savior who frees people from suffering. Seeing the divine figure of the final boss must have shocked many players, but I assure his placement is meaningful. …Nonetheless, he's still a character I initially came up with in a random and casual "Wouldn't it be crazy to have him as the final boss?" over drinks. Incidentally, naming the final enemy "Savior" because it sounds like Saber is a homage to the original Fate novel.

Any final message to the fans of Fate/EXTRA?

Nasu: Everyone in the staff making this game poured a lot of energy into making it into both a spinoff unlike any of the many spinoffs the Fate/ series has been constantly releasing and a new primary title, standing on its own feet as legitimately as its predecessor. Not even I know what the future holds for this new series, but I hope the original Fate/EXTRA remains an unforgettable game, still loved indefinitely.

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Other Fate/EXTRA Visual Fanbook translations:

- Niinou Kazuya interview

Honestly, Tristan got downplayed so hard in Fate. He is second only to Lancelot in the Round Tables (with the exception of Galahad.)

Even Merlin prophetic him and Lancelot as the two of the greatest knights. In Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Tristan is portrayed as the originator of many hunting terms and practices associated with aristocratic hunting. Later English hunting literature even treated him as the founder of the formal art of hunting. That makes his agility should be comparable to Atalanta at least.

If he were to summoned as Saber, he'll get his sword, Cortaine, legendary sword, inspired by his duel against Morholt of Ireland, in which a fragment of Tristan's blade remains embedded in Morholt's skull.

It's ability is probably allowing spectral shards of its broken blade to remain embedded in any opponent Tristan successfully slices, interfering with their magical energy and recovery. Upon releasing its True Name, Tristan can activate these embedded shards to inflict additional internal damage, potentially bypassing conventional armor and shields until the fragments are removed, neutralized, or resisted by sufficiently powerful defenses. Similar to Diamuid's NP but deadlier.

What do you think?

On top of that how well do you think he would do against the following servants.

Cu

Emiya

Artoria

Raiko

EDIT: I meant Sakata Kintoki! My bad guys.

Could anyone share the files with me? Thanks in advance!

I spent genuinly 5 hours compiling to download litrus and its asking me for a directory to each path and stuff which i just dont have and dont know how to find

Yesterday I watched the last Heaven's Feel movie and therefore finished the whole anime adaptation of Stay Night. I can easily say that Fate/Stay Night is my favourite anime of all time. I'd like to share some thoughts I have about the show.

General:

I really like the whole concept summoning historical characters and the general rules of the holy grail war. I absolutely love most of the characters, I also absolutely despise some but none of them are bland. I will share more thoughts in parts about respective routes.

Fate:

Probably my favourite route. It's a great introduction to the series. I like how fairy tale-esque is the route. Saber is my absolute favourite around with Tohsaka so I naturally like how much attention she gets here and also I think she's the best match for Shirou. I also like that Illya got a lot of screen time as she is one of my favourites too. I feel like everyone (except maybe for Sakura) got some attention here. The ending of this route got me crying. I actually like the adaptation, how the original artstyle is preserved, and of course the music by Kenji Kawai and both of the openings and both of the endings which are way above the music from the other two routes. Kirameku namida was hoshi ni is my phone ringtone right now.

Unlimited Blade Works:

This one is a close second for me. I really liked the clash of ideals between Shirou and Archer. Also I was glad about the attention Tohska was getting. Illya's backstory and Heracles Gilgamesh fight broke melt heart. This route felt like a really fun rewatch, it was same but yet so different. Gilgamesh was a fine villain but not as cool as Kirei. The animation was great, but the music was disappointing compared to the previous adaptation. After watching the anime I also watched the Deen movie and it was terribly paced but it was a fun recap with good music.

Heaven's Feel:

This is the most mixed feelings for me, by that I mean it's my least favourite Fate/Stay Night but still above anything else I watched. Spring Song was the best movie I ever watched. I personally don't like Sakura. I absolutely despise Shinji and Zouken with all my heart. It also felt bad that Assassin and Caster got killed so easily as I like them, but True Assassin was kinda cool. I liked how this route focused on the humans instead of the servants and the lore about the grail's creation. It had two most spectacular fights: Rider and Shirou vs Saber and Heracles vs Saber. The animation was godly and music was a big step up from UBW, but still not as good as in Fate.

That would be it. I also started reading the VN and watching Zero, and will definitely continue to get more into the franchise. I also started reading some Arthurian myths. If you want to ask me any questions then do it.

Edit: I also already ordered Fate/Zero and KnK books. I also watched Tsukihime anime and bought but yet not played the remake.

I'm stuck at 65% completion rate. I can't find any new scenes with the (!) or (NEW) mark.

Can you please help me?

Thanks!

EDIT: Found the issue. A scene in Tohsaka house wasn't marked as new even though I've never saw it.

I bought the vn months ago after watching the anime adaptations, starting with UBW and HF, and then went into other Fate offshoots like Zero, strange/Fake, and I’m now playing FGO. But I’ve been putting off the vn all this time, despite how I know it’ll go into far more depth and understanding of the entire story and characters and how much I want to read Heaven’s Feel because I can just feel the mountains of cut content in the movies.

Main thing that’s been holding me back is that I somewhat dislike Artoria. Not to the point that I don’t think she’s cool or anything, but that I don’t find her very interesting, and at times her naivety is frustrating. She came across as much more of a cookie cutter flawed hero than the other characters in that class such as Emiya, who’s my favourite character in the whole franchise. Zero made me understand her more, but also dislike her a bit more as learning she wishes to undo her time as king to me seemed as if she was trying to cop out of her failings, rather than accept that she wasn’t the ideal king she tried and wanted to be. Not that I hate her, she’s still pretty cool and her Caster version in FGO is the backbone of my arts looping team lol. Just that at least right now, the idea that I’ll have to read about 15-20hrs where she’s the main heroine isn’t very appealing to me, and I don’t want to go into the vn with the mindset of “I have to get through the first route to get to the good stuff.”

So to anyone that went into the vn with similar thoughts on Saber, did the route change your perspective on her? I’ll be reading it anyway (I’m not skipping a route for such a petty reason) but knowing if she grows on people will make it easier to start and likely more enjoyable.