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Hello, dear reader, I hope you’re having a good day. I’m not being paid to write this blog, and it contains information based on my opinions from playing Fate/Grand Order on iOS. Small spoiler ahead! Fate/Grand Order is a free-to-play online gacha (collectible gambling) card RPG (role-playing game) with many visual novel elements. Think Fire Emblem Heroes with a larger narrative, turn based combat mechanics with cards, and more fan service artwork. It’s based on the Fate series by Kinoko Nasu and TYPE-MOON. This game is based in the Nasuverse like other Fate games and features many of its characters. Please note some of these works were designed as adult video games (or eroge). Fate/Grand Order keeps many of those elements and tones them down to match with a PG-13 level of adult themes and outfits as far as I’ve seen. You need an internet connection to play. The game does have in-app purchases for Saint Quartz used to summon Servants, or ancient heroes, up to $79.99. There are no ads.
Fate/Grand Order Game is rated 12+ for: Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor, Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence, Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References, Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes, Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, and Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes.
Fate/Grand Order has animated cartoon violence in combat no worse than any children’s cartoon. Characters do have death quotes. The beginning story sequence after the prologue is quite intense and very different in tone from the combat. It features a character being burned alive (not shown beyond a flame and a character profile behind it)! It’s the mature setting, romantic inclinations, and story which give Fate/Grand Order an edge. When you’re trying to save the world from ending, stuff gets harsh. The game will probably be greater than 12+ to some parents for some of its racy artwork and the heavy story. Personally, I’d rate it around 14+. There are lots of weird religious overtones as well after the prologue story due to a berserk Jeanne d’Arc. She isn't the same Jeanne we all know and love. The Fate series doesn’t shy away from showing people at their worst. If you and your children can handle the original Fate/Stay Night anime (not Infinite Bladeworks) or are near high school maturity, then you can probably play Fate/Grand Order on iOS.
Review:
Fate/Grand Order Game is a well-made gacha game. The mechanics are fast and simple with lots of variety. You draw cards to dictate attack options and activate characters’ skills to modify defenses or buff attacks. For example, my assassin Stheno, has a skill which allows her to steal an enemy’s Noble Phantasm (special ability) charge. Stheno’s Noble Phantasm can instantly defeat any male Servant. This forces me to decide whether or not to charge Stheno’s Noble Phantasm or focus on higher damage combos with my card draw. Since most enemies aren’t male Servants, I usually focus on damage. There are tons of things to do and unlock. Every Servant you summon has multiple voice-acted phrases and artwork to unlock. This doesn’t include leveling up the actual stats. I’ve played multiple hours, finished the prologue (read every scene), and have to admit Fate/Grand Order does an impeccable job delivering massive amounts of content. It’s a bit overwhelming when you first start playing. What does that icon mean? What’s a servant bond? Well, those questions and more are answered in a free online gag comic tutorial. No kidding. The comic throws some adult (like everything in Fate/Grand Order) humor in there while succinctly explaining the game’s important details. The game still works with newer iOS updates and will keep you playing for a long time to build up a great team and discover the secret behind earth’s doom.
Time: You can play Fate/Grand Order until your energy limit is reached. You can continuously play in the early game because leveling refreshes and extends your energy. Once you complete the main story the developers have added extra missions.
Pros and Cons: Fate/Grand Order has a large story, and it’s told in a fun visual novel style. There are amazing animated cut-scenes in some parts, good music, and a variety of characters to meet. For a free game, you get a lot of value from Fate/Grand Order. Like other free-to-play games, you do have to be patient or pay money for the best characters. The Servant summoning pool is reduced by the possibility of summoning Craft Essences as well. This irks me. Make sure you plan your turns well, because you can’t go back to the skill menu once you’ve selected your cards. Thankfully, you can see your five drawn cards in miniature at the bottom right of the screen which helps with planning your attacks and skills. The mechanics are simple to learn while presenting many details to make mastery a long-term goal. Saint Quartz for summoning the best characters can be hard to come by once you’ve finished the story. The game occasionally gives out Saint Quartz as login bonuses so patience will be rewarded for free players. Fate/Grand Order is designed to take a long time to play and will constantly supply little bonuses to reward you for your time. The profile details aren't always accurate to history or mythology. The art…also exhibits the same tendency. Not to mention the many liberties the game takes with historical figures. The most obvious example to me would be Sir Francis Drake depicted as a busty female pirate.
Overall Impression: If you love gacha games, card games, anime, free games with stories (and an interesting one), the fan service doesn’t bother you (too much for me to be comfortable with), and lots of little extra unlocks including more art and voice acting; then Fate/Grand Order is in the App Store and on Android waiting for you to save the world. Will you join the Chaldeas Project and save humanity’s future? If you don’t enjoy free games requiring patience and collecting; then Fate/Grand Order isn’t for you.
Tips:
Extra Combat tips: Critical stars stick around until one of your attacks crits. To save up you can avoid using your attacks with high crit chance until you’re ready to unleash your fury. Cards don’t appear to reshuffle immediately. This means you can guess what your next turns will look like until you’ve gone through three hands and the deck reshuffles. Green and blue (quick and arts) cards will give greater effects when played last. Try to play greens and blues last to set up for your next turn. When one enemy is left, you can have a character focus on charging the NP (Noble Phantasm) gauge by using only their cards to attack and get a fourth attack which marginally charges the NP gauge. You can also use it to stack crit percent, but you can accidentally crit.
I hope the review and tips help you out, dear reader! Stop the singularities and save humanity!
Links: The App Store link is at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fate-grand-order-english/id1183802626?mt=8, information on the Nasuverse is at http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/Nasuverse, and the home website is at http://fate-go.us/.
Disclaimer: I’m not being paid by Aniplex Inc. or anyone else to write these tips. The only money I could make would be through advertising on this site or on YouTube at this point in time. I don't take responsibility for the content on sites linked to from this article.
by Brian Petrilli AKA Jalinon
Hello, dear reader, I hope you’re having a good day. I’m not being paid to write this blog, and it contains information based on my opinions from playing Fate/Grand Order on iOS. Small spoiler ahead! Fate/Grand Order is a free-to-play online gacha (collectible gambling) card RPG (role-playing game) with many visual novel elements. Think Fire Emblem Heroes with a larger narrative, turn based combat mechanics with cards, and more fan service artwork. It’s based on the Fate series by Kinoko Nasu and TYPE-MOON. This game is based in the Nasuverse like other Fate games and features many of its characters. Please note some of these works were designed as adult video games (or eroge). Fate/Grand Order keeps many of those elements and tones them down to match with a PG-13 level of adult themes and outfits as far as I’ve seen. You need an internet connection to play. The game does have in-app purchases for Saint Quartz used to summon Servants, or ancient heroes, up to $79.99. There are no ads.
Fate/Grand Order Game is rated 12+ for: Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor, Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence, Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References, Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes, Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, and Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes.
Fate/Grand Order has animated cartoon violence in combat no worse than any children’s cartoon. Characters do have death quotes. The beginning story sequence after the prologue is quite intense and very different in tone from the combat. It features a character being burned alive (not shown beyond a flame and a character profile behind it)! It’s the mature setting, romantic inclinations, and story which give Fate/Grand Order an edge. When you’re trying to save the world from ending, stuff gets harsh. The game will probably be greater than 12+ to some parents for some of its racy artwork and the heavy story. Personally, I’d rate it around 14+. There are lots of weird religious overtones as well after the prologue story due to a berserk Jeanne d’Arc. She isn't the same Jeanne we all know and love. The Fate series doesn’t shy away from showing people at their worst. If you and your children can handle the original Fate/Stay Night anime (not Infinite Bladeworks) or are near high school maturity, then you can probably play Fate/Grand Order on iOS.
Review:
Fate/Grand Order Game is a well-made gacha game. The mechanics are fast and simple with lots of variety. You draw cards to dictate attack options and activate characters’ skills to modify defenses or buff attacks. For example, my assassin Stheno, has a skill which allows her to steal an enemy’s Noble Phantasm (special ability) charge. Stheno’s Noble Phantasm can instantly defeat any male Servant. This forces me to decide whether or not to charge Stheno’s Noble Phantasm or focus on higher damage combos with my card draw. Since most enemies aren’t male Servants, I usually focus on damage. There are tons of things to do and unlock. Every Servant you summon has multiple voice-acted phrases and artwork to unlock. This doesn’t include leveling up the actual stats. I’ve played multiple hours, finished the prologue (read every scene), and have to admit Fate/Grand Order does an impeccable job delivering massive amounts of content. It’s a bit overwhelming when you first start playing. What does that icon mean? What’s a servant bond? Well, those questions and more are answered in a free online gag comic tutorial. No kidding. The comic throws some adult (like everything in Fate/Grand Order) humor in there while succinctly explaining the game’s important details. The game still works with newer iOS updates and will keep you playing for a long time to build up a great team and discover the secret behind earth’s doom.
Time: You can play Fate/Grand Order until your energy limit is reached. You can continuously play in the early game because leveling refreshes and extends your energy. Once you complete the main story the developers have added extra missions.
Pros and Cons: Fate/Grand Order has a large story, and it’s told in a fun visual novel style. There are amazing animated cut-scenes in some parts, good music, and a variety of characters to meet. For a free game, you get a lot of value from Fate/Grand Order. Like other free-to-play games, you do have to be patient or pay money for the best characters. The Servant summoning pool is reduced by the possibility of summoning Craft Essences as well. This irks me. Make sure you plan your turns well, because you can’t go back to the skill menu once you’ve selected your cards. Thankfully, you can see your five drawn cards in miniature at the bottom right of the screen which helps with planning your attacks and skills. The mechanics are simple to learn while presenting many details to make mastery a long-term goal. Saint Quartz for summoning the best characters can be hard to come by once you’ve finished the story. The game occasionally gives out Saint Quartz as login bonuses so patience will be rewarded for free players. Fate/Grand Order is designed to take a long time to play and will constantly supply little bonuses to reward you for your time. The profile details aren't always accurate to history or mythology. The art…also exhibits the same tendency. Not to mention the many liberties the game takes with historical figures. The most obvious example to me would be Sir Francis Drake depicted as a busty female pirate.
Overall Impression: If you love gacha games, card games, anime, free games with stories (and an interesting one), the fan service doesn’t bother you (too much for me to be comfortable with), and lots of little extra unlocks including more art and voice acting; then Fate/Grand Order is in the App Store and on Android waiting for you to save the world. Will you join the Chaldeas Project and save humanity’s future? If you don’t enjoy free games requiring patience and collecting; then Fate/Grand Order isn’t for you.
Tips:
- Use your daily Friend Points to summon everyday – Fate/Grand Order encourages you to use Friends’ Servants in battle. Doing so will net you 25 friend points you can use for free daily summons of lower quality Servants and essences. Using Cu Chulainn’s Caster form in the Prologue gives you 200 Friend Points! You’ll get 10 cards out of the daily free summon.
- Let powerful friends do the hard work – Once you’re ready to fight, choose a powerful friend’s Servant to join your team. You can set it up so they always knock out two opposing enemies instead of focusing on one at a time. Simply choose one of their cards, one of your Servants, and then another of the Friend’s cards again. The Friend should be able to take out the first enemy in one hit, then your servant may or may not end the second foe. The second Friend attack allows you to take out at least two enemies if your Servant isn’t strong enough to defeat the second enemy on their own. You can get through the prologue without leveling any of your Servants in order to save up materials for higher tier Servants.
- Look up Servant tiers online and save Saint Quartz – Ever hear the phrase, “First among equals”? Yes, this is true in all Gacha games. Not all five star Servants perform their jobs to perfection. They’ll outclass all the free summons, yet waiting for a good summoning event will help you in the long run if you’re a free player. Zhuge Liang, Jeanne d’Arc, Sir Francis Drake, and more options are waiting for the right time to be summoned.
Extra Combat tips: Critical stars stick around until one of your attacks crits. To save up you can avoid using your attacks with high crit chance until you’re ready to unleash your fury. Cards don’t appear to reshuffle immediately. This means you can guess what your next turns will look like until you’ve gone through three hands and the deck reshuffles. Green and blue (quick and arts) cards will give greater effects when played last. Try to play greens and blues last to set up for your next turn. When one enemy is left, you can have a character focus on charging the NP (Noble Phantasm) gauge by using only their cards to attack and get a fourth attack which marginally charges the NP gauge. You can also use it to stack crit percent, but you can accidentally crit.
I hope the review and tips help you out, dear reader! Stop the singularities and save humanity!
Links: The App Store link is at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fate-grand-order-english/id1183802626?mt=8, information on the Nasuverse is at http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/Nasuverse, and the home website is at http://fate-go.us/.
Disclaimer: I’m not being paid by Aniplex Inc. or anyone else to write these tips. The only money I could make would be through advertising on this site or on YouTube at this point in time. I don't take responsibility for the content on sites linked to from this article.
by Brian Petrilli AKA Jalinon