Fate/Extra

Fate/Extra is a dungeon-crawler-cum-visual novel set in a parallel-reality world from the Fate/Stay Night visual novels. You and your Servant are participants who fight together in a tournament style war to obtain the Holy Grail in a kind of battle royal, a fight to the death where the both of you are pitted against other Master and Servant pairings in one Elimination battle per week that occurs on the seventh day and is preceeded by six days of preparation.

You prepare for your Elimination battle by fighting enemies in the virtual world (Arena) and accruing information on your opponent’s Servant. Combat is a basic scissors-paper-stone setup of Attack, Break and Guard; you select your six actions at the beginning of the battle based on the information you have gleaned on the six day run-up to the fight. The battle mechanic may sound rather simple but figuring out or uncovering enemies’ attack patterns and then intercepting them is actually a lot of fun and battles against standard enemies move quite swiftly which goes some way to allay the repetition. It’s regrettable that the Arena floors are so small and the variety of enemies is minimal so battles and exploration feel very basic which entirely removes a key element of what makes dungeon crawlers so appealing: risk, exploration and triumph. That said Fate/Extra isn’t trying to be a sprawling, multi-faceted RPG. It’s a pocket-sized hybrid of a game and a novel. As such it’s much more text-heavy than standard RPGs.

The writing is certainly above-par and does a very good job of succinctly expressing the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist without being over-wrought and the dialogue between you and other characters is written well enough to make up for the lack of voice-acting and minimal character animations. The world does feel very static, though, and the presentation is a bit too basic and ineffectual. The story plays out entirely within the school grounds and its corridors and rooms are all very samey and lack the visual impact and appeal needed to give the game a sense of identity and impact. It’s not ugly but it’s certainly pedestrian and the same can be said for the music which is as background as background music gets.

Elimination matches are basically what the game is all about and they can get pretty exciting. You will fight against an incredibly powerful Servant controlled by a talented Master that is skilled enough to give you a real headache. Servants also have a Noble Phantasm, a unique devastating attack that can really make life difficult for you. Along with the homework you will have done to give you a heads up there is a certain amount of luck involved when picking your commands which is really intriguing and, to my knowledge, a unique quality among RPGs. If it all goes wrong you can curse your bad luck while loading up your save file to have another go which you will be inclined to do. That said, as per the on-screen warning upon starting a new game, it’s wise to keep a few save files due to another unique aspect of this experience; choices you make in the game can lead to a Game Over.

Most of the negatives I came across are due in large part to the very nature of the game and can be seen as issues I have with the genre itself but also the portable format. If you play this in short bursts, as most handheld users are want to do, it’s an enjoyable game and well worth the price of admission especially if you enjoy the visual novel or Anime series. If, like me, you play your PSP for hours at a time, then this type of game doesn’t lend itself to that at all because a sense of repetition sets in all too quickly. All things considered it’s an intriguing world and the story plays with concepts such as reality and religion but it most effectively toys with notions of the Self and Identity which for me is a big selling point.