Fate/Grand Order (English)

For a gacha it’s fun though gacha themselves are a very problematic game styles. As for its connection to the Fate universe, it works as well as it can within the existing framework, but if you’re looking to replicate a holy grail war, this is not that. Still, it’s got some clever portions and charismatic characters. Two problems persist however (aside from the basic concept of a “freemium gacha,” but that won’t change) - the first and lesser is the time consuming degree of material and currency farming. They offer exactly what you need to farm it at any point of time, but, even once you have won the match, you always have to replay it. Which is pointless and time consuming, you are guaranteed to win as you have already completed it, but they still make you go through the motions which can be tedious and slow. There’s no excuse for this. Let us complete a challenge and then just exchange pp for currency/materials so as not to waste an entire day gathering 12 million currency (I am just totally blanking on the in-game currency - not to be confused with quartz which is the currency of actual value used to summon servants via the gacha element. The currency required to upgrade your servants). It’s just a pointless waste of time. End results are guaranteed but you are forced to go through the motions. Concern number 2 is the insane level of flashing lights this game throws at you. I don’t even get seizures and it gives me terrible, terrible headaches and other forms of general discomfort. I cannot stress the amount of flashing screen you will experience. If you think you’ve seen some stuff, this will blow you out of the water. It’s also not necessary either, the noble phantasm animations are good enough without the aggressive white flashing screens. It’s almost like the creator had a vendetta against people with seizures and adds a level of physical pain on top of the emotional FOMO gachas inherently pressure you with. Seriously, at least give us the choice to turn the flashing lights off. You’d totally pick up people who have seizures, it’s money left on the table. To sum up, if you have no problem with the addictive nature of gacha, then give it a try. It’s got some clever elements and can itch that fate scratch for a while. But it does have some issues. Additionally, the current summer event set in Dubai is extremely dubious. It is a clear, cynical piece of propaganda and tourist advertisement disguised as a game (which is ironic since no other portion of the game has put me to sleep half as quickly). There is no real overarching plot throughout, a couple vague hints at one, but the majority of it focusing on a subplot that is never properly explored beyond “well, let’s just set that issue aside while we continue on the sketchy tour laid out before us.” It makes 0 case for itself beyond naked pandering to a city as much a testament to corruption as it is solipsism. The summer event is typically one to look forward to, as much for the swimsuit clad servants (male and female, though female do take center stage), as it is for the fun, silly or on at least one occasion, well crafted homage (such as the summer camp one parodying slasher film tropes). There is none of that in this one (save for the sexy servants dangled in front of you to bilk “whales” out of their money - won’t lie, I enjoy them, but the obvious emphasis on “sex sells” is impossible to ignore). This event blindly praises a corrupt, dangerous city for its excesses and rationalizes many of its flaws while sweeping the worst under a rug. The game offers more criticism of its country of origin’s own history than it does this city. Of the many flagrant pieces of propaganda, included are - a trip to the Dubai frame, awing at its gaudy, gold plated majesty without once acknowledging how the city blatantly stole the idea and plans from the winner of an architectural contest with clearly stated rules and restrictions imposed upon itself. It also barely acknowledges in the briefest of throwaway lines (which never directly speaks to the issue) how outright dangerous it would be for women to go around the city dressed as they are, pointing out its law without delving into the origin, practice or repercussions of said laws, sweeping it under the rug by giving them special permission as outsiders (depicting just how hypocritical the city is in the face of tourism dollars). It denotes the obscene wealth and cost of living in the city with one, brief, barely informed line of dialogue only to spend the vast majority of the time showing how much obvious fun living anywhere would be with limitless funds by giving you a card that does just that at the beginning of the story (something practically a necessity for actually living there in real life). It praises it as a testament to peace and advancement without discussing the oppressive dictatorship empowered by religious fanaticism which imposes this “peace” (let alone discussing how the sultan assassinates foreign journalists outside its borders who are critical of the country it belongs to). It fails to acknowledge how much of the “progress” is built upon the backs of the less fortunate, who never get so much of a taste of this grossly indulgent shrine to unrestrained consumerism and strict social hierarchy. The event defends any dubious actions (without openly admitting any of them) by way of the country’s oppressive rule by a foreign power in ages gone by. It also only, in the most throwaway line, acknowledges how much of the country’s wealth is due to the discovery of oil and its subsequent control of it - in fact, it appears to praise that as a good thing without ever speaking to any of the surrounding criticisms. Every single piece of dialogue or narration is just a naked, hypocritical attempt to whitewash the city’s flaws, pitching it for tourist dollars for all it’s worth, cynically treating us players as naive rubes oblivious to the manipulations at play here.