Extra musings on Fate
Hi everyone. Well last week was a big week for us here on the Ghostlight Blog what with our fabulous new game announcement. Oops, did I say new game? I of course meant new ‘games’ as we picked up both Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked for 3DS and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 for DS :)
But of course that’s not all that happened as Fate/EXTRA was made available for pre-order last week too. With our fantastic Collector’s Edition and exclusive items available for just £39.99 there’s no reason you shouldn’t have already ordered it :).
However for those of you who are still on the fence I thought I’d talk to you a little about my experiences playing Fate/EXTRA. Don’t worry though I’ll be keeping things fairly loose in terms of storyline to avoid spoiling it for you.
First things first, in order to clear up some of the biases here, I should be clear in saying that I’m a huge fan of the two Fate anime series, Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero however, Fate/EXTRA definitely holds up for those of you unfamiliar with previous Fate games/anime/manga. The tale itself is incredibly well told and involves the player finding out that what they think of as their school is in fact a computer simulation that serves as a battle ground for mages in a war for the Holy Grail. With numerous twists including a rather clever one in the tutorial itself, the storyline is amazingly compelling leading some to say that Fate/EXTRA should be considered a visual novel coupled with a superb level of gameplay.
Speaking of the gameplay, to my mind it has a structure reminiscent of Persona 3 Portable with the game divided into two phases, one of which takes place in the “school” and the other in a dungeon. Fate/EXTRA also features mighty boss battles which happen on a schedule based on how much time has past in game. However, as opposed to P3P’s emphasis on building up relationships during school hours, Fate/EXTRA demands that you research and spy on your next opponent. Each NPC also has their own story and you get to talk to them about their hopes and fears for the next round before seeing them gradually disappear as more of them are defeated in the tournament.
The combat is unique and fascinating with a novel rock-paper-scissors-style system which is elaborated on with some very clever touches. Having to think six moves in advance makes the game quite challenging but the more you fight an enemy type the more of their moves you’re shown in advance. The key things to remember are that skills break up enemy combo counters (make sure you never let them get three hits in a row) and that you can heal on any of your 6 turns. The other thing to remember is that each enemy type has its own preferences for certain moves so even when you’re not certain which move they are going to make you can make an educated guess.
Anyway I hope this has whetted your appetite for what is a fantastic game both for Fate veterans and those new to this series. Pre-orders have been going well so far but you can still get our fabulous exclusive items when you order it from here.
That’s all for now. I know some of you are getting anxious for news on Digital Devil Saga but I promise I’ll let you know as soon as we have a release date for those games. I’ll be back next week, but until then why not follow us on our Twitter and Facebook pages, our Youtube Channel and our Google + account, where we’ll be posting all the latest news from Ghostlight? You can also follow me on Twitter for a more personal take on all things Ghostlight.
Comments:
Just wondering if you got any dates for the PSN release.
@Chibi-Noir Not yet. We're hoping the gap will be shorter then it was for Trails in the Sky and Persona 2.
I noticed that the game is unavailable for people from Sweden (and some other European countries) on the Ghostlight store, and i was just wondering if most future games from Ghostlight will be unavailable from the store for swedes? Because the extra stuff for the games were always pretty nice, and it be quite sad to miss it in the future. :P But oh well, as long as we can get Ghostlight's games at all, I'll be happy. :D
@ManaAlchemist It varies from game to game depending on the distribution deal.
Pre ordered Fate/EXTRA :) I hope you manage to send sent it out early again, like you did with Persona 2 and TitS (I love getting my TitS early XD )
Nintendo have just announced that every game they publish starting with New Super Mario Bros. 2 will be available digitally on the same day as the retail release. Could Ghostlight look into the possibility of a digital release of DS: Overclocked, if it hasn't been done already?
@Mixobarbaros I'll pass it on and see if we can do anything like that. Releasing games on UMD & on PSN has worked well for us on PSP.
@[GL] Ross: Thanks, I hope it works out.
Hi I'm Comming from Germany please oversee my Write Errors . I Know that my Question has nothing to do with this News , so sorry for that i would Questoning if there any news for Agarest Generations of War 2 I found the News that the game will comming this Year to Europe and i wont to Know wether any of you had a date ?
@Matthew We don't have a date yet but we're still aiming for a summer release.
Pre-ordered. I don't actually have any room for all of these posters that keep piling up but I'm looking forward to the toe-sucker interview, whatever it is.
Thank you so much for picking up the UK release of the SMT games, sending you a HUGE hug down the interwebs now! On another note do you have any plans to pick up Persona 4 The Golden for the Vita too, if so I may explode with happiness lol (and watch my wallet go on a diet). Thanks Again :)
@Shiroi Taka I've nothing to report regarding Persona 4 on Vita but I am passing all the interest on.
Ross, come on, the US localization for P4G has been confirmed, you know you want to!!
I noticed you have deals on fate/extra in Norway... if i can't buy agarest 2 directly from you because of distribution deals im not gona buy it all...