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Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star |OT| Arturia BeenDraggin'

pariah164

Member
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Developer: Marvelous
Publisher: Marvelous (JP/EU); XSEED Games (NA)
Genre: Action, Musou
Rating: T for Teen

Release Dates:

- November 10, 2016 (JP)
- January 17, 2017 (NA)
- January 20, 2017(EU)

Price:

Standard Edition:

- $39.99 (Vita), $59.99 (PS4)

Limited Edition (NA):


- Noble Phantasm Edition (Vita/PS4) ($59.99/$69.99)
-- Game
-- 7.5" by 6.3" hardcover art book featuring over 100 pages of artwork
-- Pack of sixteen collectible 3" by 5" cards depicting each of the game's Servants
-- 24" by 17" cloth poster
-- All contents housed in a custom box

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The Moon Cell Automaton is a spiritron computer, which exists on the moon and has the power to grant any wish. All across the spiritron-constructed virtual world, SE.RA.PH., Servants and the Masters who control them fight for the right to be the Moon Cell Automaton's one owner in a ceremonial conflict known as the Holy Grail War.

Now, the Servant Nero Claudius and her Master have won the Holy Grail War and have obtained the universal wishing mechanism, the Holy Grail.

They also obtained the Regalia, a ring that proves their kingship. With it, they rule over their once-enemy Servants and start a new beginning on the moon's new world.

But a new enemy has appeared before them. And this enemy has something that shouldn't exist: another Regalia.

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XSEED does an excellent job explaining, so rather than steal their thunder, click for features and system

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For reviews, click here.

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Videos:


Announcement Trailer

Trailer #2
How to unlock Artoria
Launch Date Announcement Trailer
Noble Phantasm Limited Edition Unboxing
Character trailers: Nero | Tamamo | Altera | Nameless | Gawain | Li Shuwen | Karna | Elizabeth | Lu Bu | Medusa |
Gilgamesh | Iskander | Jeanne | Archimedes | Artoria |

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Q: What is this even?

A: The sequel to Fate/Extra, a PSP game.

Q: Wasn't there already a sequel?

A: Nope. Fate/Extra CCC was basically another story set in the same universe and not a true sequel. Either way, sadly, it was never released in English due to certain people giving up on PSP games in the US.

Q: What even is a musou?

A: Basically? Run around and beat all the mans with awesome weapons and magic. Some examples of other musou games include Dynasty Warriors, Senran Kagura Estival/Shinovi Versus, and Hyrule Warriors.

Q: Best girl?

A: Tamamo. An Elizabeth is fine too.

Thanks to Chacranajxy for the OT title.
 

Strimei

Member
Q: Best girl?

A: Tamamo. An Elizabeth is fine too.

Thanks to Chacranajxy for the OT title.

You, I like you.

Anyway looking forward to playing it. I'm still kinda upset that of all the Extra cast that came over, they didn't bring Robin Hood. What a pity.

But eh, Cu's there so I'm happy too. Best bro ever.
 

Lucentto

Banned
This is the sequel to Fate/Extra? Really? I remember really liking that game when I played it many years ago.

How is this game? I have heard literally nothing about it.
 

Strimei

Member
This is the sequel to Fate/Extra? Really? I remember really liking that game when I played it many years ago.

How is this game? I have heard literally nothing about it.

Yup. The Fate-franchise as a whole has been steadily expanding, and Extra's become a bit of its own thing now too. In addition to this, there's an adaptation of Extra in the works by studio Shaft.

I've honestly not heard anything about the game overall, but I've not really paid attention much, as I want to find out about the story on my own, but its a musou so expect that sorta thing.
 
Come on Amazon, send it already! Also still salty about Assassin, Li Shuwen just doesn't look the part to me... but to be fair many don't look the part (looking at you "Archer" Gilgamesh).
 

1upsuper

Member
Holy shit, I had no idea this was a thing, and I'm a big Fate/ fan. Buying now.

Edit: Haven't played Extra in forever. Do I need a refresher to get up to speed with this? Also, Vita or PS4? When given the choice I usually like to go with Vita but if there are serious performance issues/cut content I'll go with PS4.
 

Lyte Edge

All I got for the Vernal Equinox was this stupid tag
This is the sequel to Fate/Extra? Really? I remember really liking that game when I played it many years ago.

Yes, but it plays nothing like it. This is a full-on musou-style action game.

How is this game? I have heard literally nothing about it.[/QUOTE]

Here's my impressions of the import version bleow. I bought it digitally and liked it enough that I ordered the physical U.S. versions. Also to note- the ability that lets you swap characters is limited to a specific character and cannot be changed initially. I thought I saw someone say that after a LOT of leveling/grinding you do get to the point where you can change this, but I'm not 100% sure.

The game is divided up into three main stories for Saber (Nero), Caster (Tamano No Mae), and Saber (Altera). I think Nero also gets a fourth story...I'm not sure since I stopped playing the import to wait for the U.S. version. The other playable characters get smaller sub-story modes and can also be used in free mode. And that's it-- no other modes of play. The number of stages is also on the smaller side (reminds me of Senran Kagura that way) and the enemy variety is pretty small, but this is still a pretty fun musou game. If you like those kinds of games, absolutely check this out.

OK, so really quick Fate impressions:

-Looks like Type Moon is sole developer here. I thought that maybe Tamsoft or someone else might be involved, but didn't see any other logos.

-The game is pretty story-heavy and is told visual novel style, complete with different responses you can give. No idea what the hell is happening since I'm not all that familiar with Fate and am general just skipping through it. The cut scenes are both 2D and real-time.

-I love this game's aesthetic. It's bright and colorful with some unique-looking stages (For a musou game, anyway). The character models are pretty cartoony, but that fits in with the general Fate design.

-You can choose between a male or a female character, but this is just for the story; this character is the "Master" and you're playing as the servants in-game.

-The game play is typical musou style- You get two attacks, jump, dash, block, and super move buttons. You can also use different items (abilities?) with the d-pad and can also switch characters. I'm not sure if later levels will allow you to choose the partner, but on the first main level, I was playing as Nero (Saber) and had Archer as my partner. Didn't see anything come up that allowed for any kind of dual attack moves. Not sure if that's in this game or not. Don't remember it from previews.

-The PS4 version has a nice, generally smooth framerate that seems to be 60 FPS. Drops just a bit here and there, at least from the intro and first stages. There's TONS of enemies on-screen to beat up. More than a lot of other musou games, although most are all the same enemy model.

-The Vita version appears to be running at less than half the framerate of the PS4 version. I'd say maybe around 25 FPS? But before you decide to drop this version, it plays smoothly and seemed pretty stable from what I tried. I need to play more of this version though. There's also far, far less enemies on-screen and the resolution and effects are noticeably low-res. If you're only going to get one version, definitely get this on PS4, but the Vita version doesn't seem too bad- it's on par with say, Samurai Warriors 4 on Vita, but retains more details on the characters and levels. I'm not sure if it's PSTV compatible, but it would probably look pretty ugly on the big screen.

Should you import this? I'd definitely recommend holding off for the English release given the large amount of focus on the story.
Fate/Extella was the number one-selling game in Japan last week. Good debut...hope this becomes a new series for Type-Moon.

I've been playing more of it and am loving the crazy fast-paced speed of the battles and general level design aesthetic. Really nice use of colors on some levels. Also more crazy gameplay stuff- You can fill up a meter that seems to have different effects depending on your character. Archer just went into "hyper mode" and got stronger, but when I did this with Saber, she got a full-on cinematic transformation sequence, changed outfits, and got a set of flaming gauntlets. She was then insanely-strong and I was able to rip through a stage boss that had been giving me problems in seconds. :lol

You can craft armor that gives you enhanced abilities in battle, and set them to slots that are accessible with the d-pad. The character-switching mechanic is one of these. You can get health items, defensive items (summons another character to come out and assist) and more. Then you can slot in power-up items that increase speed or add enhancements like flame or lightening effects, just like the Koei musou games.

I'm pretty impressed, especially since this is the first game of its type from Type-Moon. My only complaints are typical with musou titles, I.E. not enough enemy variety (so far) and the difficulty could stand to be harder. I tried playing on hard and didn't find the AI any more aggressive, but instead enemy boss types were just much stronger and required a shitload more hits to take down. This was just the first level and it made it take forever to finish at level 1, so I switched to normal and had no trouble clearing it.
Back on Fate/Extella- Started Tamano No Mae's story. The first stage took me a whopping 86 minutes to finish.

When you're playing the game, the way things generally work is that you beat the shit out of grunt enemies in the various zones you can go to on the map, which then leads to the stronger "general" style enemies (Called Aggresives) popping up. Beat them and you clear the zone and get keys. Get the maximum amount of keys needed and you clear the stage. However, the enemy can get keys too, by invading your conquered territory and taking it back. This happens when another enemy type, called "Brands," pop up. Brands look like flying saucers and don't attack...they are more like support enemies that spew out this weird black smoke. When Brands pop up in an enemy zone, they control where a potential invasion of another zone will take place. You are shown on the map which zone is going to get invaded by a yellow line. Destroy the Brand and the invasion stops. Head to a zone in dispute and take it back to regain your potentially-lost keys. Simple enough, right?

Now, I don't know if this is a coincidence, but this crazy-long level playtime happened to me last night after downloading an update. Did it break shit or did I just get unlucky? I did not have this problem on Nero's (Saber) first story.

So what happened is that I got stuck in a tug of war for control of a few zones. I'd rush to a zone and start trying to clear it, then a Brand would appear in another zone on the far side of the map. If I tried to conquer the current zone as quickly as possible, too much time was taken and the Brand would send an invasion force to another zone. If I stopped what I was doing and rushed to the Brand's zone as quickly as possible, ANOTHER Brand would instantly pop up in a different zone and the cycle would repeat itself.

Eventually it got to the point that I had leveled up enough and gotten strong enough to take out enemies faster. I was able to get things down to just two enemy zones left and used a power-up move to destroy one zone and just barely make it to the other one before the Brand got an invasion force out. Crazy shit. Levels should not take anywhere near this long to clear, LOL.
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Long VN-style scenes.
OK gameplay.

Yeah and the VN style scenes are not even that well done too, due to so-so 3d models they use. At least the voice work is good.

This title is most def more something for the hardcore fans of the series rather than a title Id recommend to people new to it.

The supers are pretty cool looking though. Wish the action part felt more satisfying. Since what JP players said was pretty correct about how there is no "weight" to the combat with how when your attacks land on enemies. It will make sense once you play the game.
 

Baliis

Member
Enjoying the game so far, I actually had a game arrive early for once! They definitely lacked some budget in places. Using a Noble Phantasm for example, there weren't any subtitles for what's being said. Enjoying the characters though.

Elizabeth is striking me as best girl atm
 

Lyte Edge

All I got for the Vernal Equinox was this stupid tag
This title is most def more something for the hardcore fans of the series rather than a title Id recommend to people new to it.

I disagree-- it's what actually got me into Fate. After playing this, I went and bought Fate/Extra and then watched Unlimited Blade Works. It's a pretty good musou although I think Koei's Musou Stars in a few months is gonna be much better.
 
Had to cancel this one due to the glut of releases this month unfortunately.
Also, having no prior knowledge of FSN besides figures and merchandise, this OT made me realize that I've been operating under the delusion that Arturia Pendragon, Nero Claudius, and Jeanne D'Arc were the same character in different outfits and named Saber. Gilgamesh and Nameless too.
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
I disagree-- it's what actually got me into Fate. After playing this, I went and bought Fate/Extra and then watched Unlimited Blade Works. It's a pretty good musou although I think Koei's Musou Stars in a few months is gonna be much better.

I wouldnt say its exactly good as its not nearly as satisfying and the whole system of having to constantly kill grunts to get the commanders to show up is more irritating than anything.

Its an "Ok" musou clone Id put it under other titles in terms of satisfaction while playing.

Considering how they didnt spend much on the story scenes, wish they put a bit more effort into the gameplay part with the title. As said before the combat is not that satisfying once you get past all the oohs and ahhs of doing the special moves. The lack of impact really effects this. So its not an actual problem with the various characters attack variations, but the satisfaction from the combat itself.
 

1upsuper

Member
I wouldnt say its exactly good as its not nearly as satisfying and the whole system of having to constantly kill grunts to get the commanders to show up is more irritating than anything.

Its an "Ok" musou clone Id put it under other titles in terms of satisfaction while playing.

Considering how they didnt spend much on the story scenes, wish they put a bit more effort into the gameplay part with the title. As said before the combat is not that satisfying once you get past all the oohs and ahhs of doing the special moves. The lack of impact really effects this. So its not an actual problem with the various characters attack variations, but the satisfaction from the combat itself.

Does it build substantially on Fate/Extra story-wise, or is it fairly self-contained? I'm typically a gameplay>story person, but I make an exception for Fate/. I can handle middling gameplay if the story and characters are satisfying.
 

Sakura

Member
Does it build substantially on Fate/Extra story-wise, or is it fairly self-contained? I'm typically a gameplay>story person, but I make an exception for Fate/. I can handle middling gameplay if the story and characters are satisfying.

It's pretty story heavy but the story is rather self contained.
 

Strimei

Member
Also, having no prior knowledge of FSN besides figures and merchandise, this OT made me realize that I've been operating under the delusion that Arturia Pendragon, Nero Claudius, and Jeanne D'Arc were the same character in different outfits and named Saber. Gilgamesh and Nameless too.

The former's understandable, especially since they all are Saber-faces. Its a bit of a running gag at this point in the franchise (and partly the fault of co-founder of Type-Moon and character designer Takashi Takeuchi who loves Arturia).

The Saberface club includes:

-Saber (aka Arturia)
-
Saber Alter
-Saber Lily (younger Arturia)
-Master Artoria (some alt-universe/idea version of Arturia as a master and not a servant)
-Saber of Red (
Mordred
)
-Nero
-Souji Okita
-Devil Saber
-Gray
-Jeanne (and she has alternate versions like Arturia does)
-Chevalier d'Eon

Those that I can remember, at least.
 

Ala Alba

Member
Huh, looking at the roster, I see they managed to get a half/half male/female split.

I guess I never counted before, just assumed it skewed toward more female characters.

On a related note, I'm pretty sure F/GO is also sitting at even amounts of male/female characters (it's still a waifu simulator, though).
 
I disagree-- it's what actually got me into Fate. After playing this, I went and bought Fate/Extra and then watched Unlimited Blade Works. It's a pretty good musou although I think Koei's Musou Stars in a few months is gonna be much better.
What got me in (and actually the only thing I like about the Fate franchise) is Carnival Phantasm, watch it if you haven't. As for Musou type games they tend to be hit or miss for me, gameplay on this one looks fast and hopefully plays decent.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
The former's understandable, especially since they all are Saber-faces. Its a bit of a running gag at this point in the franchise (and partly the fault of co-founder of Type-Moon and character designer Takashi Takeuchi who loves Arturia).

The Saberface club includes:

-Saber (aka Arturia)
-
Saber Alter
-Saber Lily (younger Arturia)
-Master Artoria (some alt-universe/idea version of Arturia as a master and not a servant)
-Saber of Red (
Mordred
)
-Nero
-Souji Okita
-Devil Saber
-Gray
-Jeanne (and she has alternate versions like Arturia does)
-Chevalier d'Eon

Those that I can remember, at least.

You forgot

Lancer Arturia
the true adult version of Arturia had she not been cursed with immortality through Caliburn/Excalibur/Avalon, who has become a demi god half fairy and lived for over 7 centuries

Lancer Arturia Alter
the above except she has become corrupted by darkness of the weapon she wields

Mysterious heroine X -
The Arturia who was born to kill all Arturias.

Beach Arturia - Arturia on the beach

Santa Alter -
Arturia Alter
as Santa.

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Of course with this we can cement Takeuchi-san as a true legend.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Not too familiar with this, but I'm a devout advocate for Extra. It got me into the Fate series. Great music, unique gameplay, intriguing plot.

Aksys did a phenomenal localization, too.
 

Strimei

Member
You forgot

Lancer Arturia
the true adult version of Arturia had she not been cursed with immortality through Caliburn/Excalibur/Avalon, who has become a demi god half fairy and lived for over 7 centuries

Lancer Arturia Alter
the above except she has become corrupted by darkness of the weapon she wields

Mysterious heroine X -
The Arturia who was born to kill all Arturias.

Beach Arturia - Arturia on the beach

Santa Alter -
Arturia Alter
as Santa.

Of course with this we can cement Takeuchi-san as a true legend.

Yeah I knew I was forgetting some.

I expect a Saber-Lion Berserker at some point. Its gotta happen.

Gao~
 

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
I played through the JP version of this, and really enjoyed it. I like how the zone capture system works, and levels don't drag on.

As one might expect, Gilgamesh is a lot of fun to play. I wish you could cycle through more characters mid battle. It's a shame it's only two characters per faction.

As much as I enjoy Fate, Extella gets into shitty cheese cake territory at times, though it's not often. I enjoyed the UBW anime and Fate Zero a lot because of the darker tone, and I do find Extella is not nearly as dark.

Still, a fun game, and definitely worth playing if you're a Fate fan.

ALSO, I really hope they changed how you unlock Arturia in the US version, because it's total bullshit to unlock her in the JP version.
 

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Wait this is MUSOU-like? I have it wishlisted but that got me more interested in it tbh.

Yeah, it's a musou game. Three main stories, and then shitloads of side stories for each of the unlockable servants.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
To be fair, Ufotable's handling of Fate has always been as intentionally 'gritty' as their KnK movie adaptions.

I mean, i enjoy the style as much as anyone else, but the original visual novel had huge portions of pure cheesecake and cuteness overload in addition to the serious and dark portions, and Hollow Ataraxia does this x10 in the comedic direction.

So in that way i kinda feel like ufotable overplayed that aspect too much. Not to say they were wrong to considering they started with Zero of couse, which encapsulates the darker material of Fate.

Carrying that over to their UBW adaption at the time i'm sure made some sense, and HF for the most part does fit that atmosphere very well too.
 

Tizoc

Member
Yeah, it's a musou game. Three main stories, and then shitloads of side stories for each of the unlockable servants.

This is $50 in my Country's region and Gravity Rush 2 is cheaper than US PSN.
I am planning on playing Yakuza 0 on my PS4, being the first time in A LONG time that I dedicate time to playing stuff off that dang box.
I might say fuck it, use PC Remote play, and play Y0, Fate/EX, GR 1+2 and finish up SRW '16, and heck SB4 Sumeragi while I'm at it.
Fuck just gonna clear my PS4 backlog at this rate.

Wonder if Middle East PSN accepts UAE cash codes fine...
 
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