Fate/Stay Night review by desi

[desi 53]

Just finished F/SN up yesterday. It's definitely one of the more intriguing VNs out there filled with unexpected twists and stories that span across the 3 routes. One of the great things about F/SN is that there is always something new to learn in every route. After day 3, they pretty much branch off in different directions and are sort of "what-if" routes. Just going to mention briefly about the routes that most people already probably know about:

 

Routes

The Fate route starts off with your basic introduction about Masters and Servants and does a fairly good job setting up the story. The theme is "oneself as an ideal" and tells the full story of Saber and what she exactly is after by partaking in the war. There is a good amount of info-dumping in this route because it is an introduction, but it not only helps set up the story for later in the route, it helps flesh out a lot of information that will be shown in the UBW and HF route.

 

http://i.imgur.com/tKBln.jpg

 

The UBW route is the second route and focuses on Archer and Rin. The theme of this route is appropriately stated as "struggling with oneself as an ideal." If you've played this route, you know exactly what this theme entails. Most of the mysteries left unanswered in the Fate scenario are revealed and things start to go very "wrong" in this route. The reveals in UBW makes you re-think everything you knew about the previous story.

 

http://i.imgur.com/IWklm.jpg

 

The HF route is the third and last route with the theme of "the friction with real and ideal." This is both the conclusion act and Sakura's route. The increasing development of Emiya Shirou's character reaches its final act in this route. If you thought things went wrong in UBW, this route expands upon that and gives you a whole different side to what the VN is composed of. I would say for many, this is the real story that F/SN tries to tell and delivers a fairly satisfying closure(although not perfect) to the journey that is presented. I feel that this route shows the importance of four characters: Shirou, Ilya, Kotomine, and Sakura. The twists and turns of this route is nothing short of riveting. I would say it's the most mature route presented.

 

http://i.imgur.com/OQVqj.jpg

 

As stated, the routes all build on each other. You are expected to know important information in the UBW route that is shown in the Fate route, and you're expected to know information in the HF route that is shown in the previous UBW and Fate routes. As for personal taste, I mostly enjoyed all the routes. It's tough for me to put a ranking to it, but HF and UBW are probably at the same level for me. HF is MUCH darker than the other routes and people that love that kind of atmosphere will probably end up liking HF the most. Twists wise, UBW is on top for me. Although HF has more twists, the huge UBW twist that was presented really overshadowed the surprises that HF presented for me. Fate serves more as an introduction, so it's no surprise why people would consider it the weakest route.

 

Sounds/Music/Artwork

Wow, this may be the most underrated part of the VN. The sounds create a brilliant atmosphere and are top-notch quality. The music was excellent as well. If you hear the song "Emiya", you know shit is going down in whatever route you are in. It's probably my favorite song in this VN. The artwork was very nice as well. Each character is well-drawn and they have a nice differentiation of facial expressions for specific moods. Voice acting is also top-notch. I couldn't imagine playing this without the latest Realta Nua patch applied.. with the voices and Improved CGs, make sure you have the latest one applied.

 

Characters

The characters presented are probably the strongest part of this VN for me. Yes, Shirou is annoying as hell and the most Donkan protag ever, but he really fits in this VN. It wouldn't be nearly as exciting with a badass protag like Kenichi. Some may find Shirou's pacifist ideals a bit... annoying. I know some people that couldn't stand the protag and ended up dropping the VN just because of Shirou... I wouldn't recommend that. He gets pretty good development in the later routes, especially in the HF route. My three favorite characters are probably Archer, Ilya, and Kotomine. Archer just because hes GAR, Ilya because of various reasons and it has nothing to do with the fact that she's a loli, and Kotomine because he's just a very complex and well-written character. Anytime he showed up, he stole the spotlight. He's one very interesting character, that's for sure.

 

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/001/593/peopledie.jpg

One of the many idiotic things our protag has said.

 

Negatives

Well, this isn't a perfect VN, is it? Although I found it very entertaining and definitely a great read, there are a few negatives for me. Some of the scenes are stretched out a bit longer than they need to be. Although Shirou is a protag that is right and fit for this VN, I can't help but think he could of bit written a bit better. I'm not talking about a complete badass, but the housewife stuff got a bit too much after a while. The H-scenes... everyone plays for h-scenes, right? They were just way too forced and seemed like they were stuck in for fan-service.

 

Last Impressions

Even if you aren't a big fan of action/fantasy type VNs, F/SN is still one you should check out. I probably clocked in around 100 hours and don't regret reading it one bit. The action combined with elements of magic and mythology make this a fairly unique story. Do NOT watch the terrible anime before playing this VN. The anime is mostly a (butchered) adaption of the Fate route, but it spoils you on a lot of other twists as well. Also, make sure to watch Fate/Zero AFTER completing this VN. I'm anxious to see the awesome combination of Kiritsugu and Kotomine. One last thing I do want to state is that you should do ALL the bad ends... they're definitely interesting to do, especially in the HF route. Once you do a bad end, you'll have to watch a "Tiger Dojo". Not only is the Tiger Dojo a nice change of pace, but it provides some information of F/SN that you wouldn't otherwise know.

 

Spoilers, DO NOT OPEN IT IF YOU ARE NOT FINISHED

[spoiler=FSN]Honestly, Kotomine is one of the greatest and well-written antagonists I've seen. He's incredibly complex. It's one of the reasons why I loved the HF route so much. You get to understand his intentions and get more of a background story to his mysterious character. Someone who isn't able to find happiness outside of evil and questioned his own existence. This is why he went out of his way to "complete" the tainted version of the Holy Grail and witness the birth of something that represented himself. Just an awesome character.

 

Edited November 7, 2012 by desi

[OneManArmy 82]

I somehow missed that you wrote a review about f/sn...

Anyway, I agree with most of your points, especially when talking about Kotomine, he's awesome as fuck.

[radiantmadness 11]

this review+ this info: 'they're definitely interesting to do, especially in the HF route. Once you do a bad end, you'll have to watch a "Tiger Dojo". Not only is the Tiger Dojo a nice change of pace, but it provides some information of F/SN that you wouldn't otherwise know.' has put Fate/stay in the my 'second change' list, well done;)