Fate/Extra

Gameplay

Fate/Extra is a single-player three-dimensional Japanese role-playing game in the dungeon subgenre. The game features two main modes: "Arena", in which the player fights against AI opponents, and "Academy", which is storyline-driven.

During battles, the player's character, called the Master, directs their Servant to reduce their opponent's health points to zero. Battles take place as isolated in-game events with a single opponent (either a dweller or another Servant). A fight consists of separate sections, and before each of them begins, the Master is asked to select a sequence of six actions for the Servant to execute on the playing field while the enemy retaliates.

There are three main types of interaction: "Attack", "Protection", and "Breakthrough". After the series of actions is chosen by each side of the battle, they are compared against each other before the defeated side is damaged. In the case of three consecutive successful actions, the character is provided with an additional attack that does not take into account the resistance of the enemy. In addition to the main interactions, servant characters have special types of attacks called "noble phantasms", which require the expenditure of magic energy points.

With the help of permanent effect items and code spells—magic that enhances certain characteristics of the Servants, which allows Masters to maintain their Servants.

The arena is a dungeon filled with AI enemies. When all enemies are defeated, the player is rewarded with experience points and in-game currency. During one game week, the player is offered two mandatory quests, consisting of finding items in the territory of Arena levels. If these missions are completed within the prescribed period, the player is allowed to battle with an enemy servant controlled by artificial intelligence at the beginning of the next game week. When a certain number of battles are held with a certain type of opponent, the player gets the opportunity to see part of the opponent's action combination before choosing their own series of moves. Throughout the game week, the player can gain info on enemy servants through their interactions with their master in the academy. The player may also purchase items in the academy.

The dialogue system in the game is built similarly to the visual novel genre, where there is an extensive system for selecting replicas that further develop the relationship with the Servant. The main narration is also conducted through text information offered to the player, located between the stages of the active game process. If a quest is failed or a Servant is defeated in the arena, the player receives a "bad ending".

Plot

The Fate/Extra storyline is set in one of the multiverses (alternate histories) of the Fate universe, and as such, it is not the same world as that of Fate/Stay Night.

In the year 2032, an object surpassing all of humanity's wisdom was discovered on the moon. Known as the Moon Cell Automaton and equivalent to the Holy Grail, it is an all-powerful wish-granting device. As the world outside suffers from magical drain and faills into ruin, organizations and forces from around the world access the spiritual virtual world created by the Automaton, called SE.RA.PH, and participate in the Holy Grail War, which the Automaton conducts to select a suitable wielder for its power.

The protagonist, Hakuno Kishinami(Name and gender customizable by the player), a student at Tsukiumihara Academy, notices something strange about the world. The reality of school life is that it is a preliminary round of the Holy Grail War run by SE.RA.PH, with a rule that if you don't regain your original memories within the time limit, you will be eliminated. The 128 participants, called Masters, significantly rely on entities called Servants, the materialized spirits of mythological or legendary figures. Aside from the mages, all other characters turn out to be NPCs with behavior programmed by a supercomputer, with strictly defined functions for interacting with living people.

The protagonist collapses and nearly dies in the final stage of the preliminaries, but is saved by a certain Servant (which a player can select from a list of three) who sees their unwavering determination, and a contract is formed, allowing them to advance to the main Holy Grail War. In the main tournament, which is conducted in a knockout format, the protagonist first faces Shinji Matou, a boy who was given the role of his best friend in the preliminaries. Their next opponent is Dan Blackmore, one of the favorites to win and a skilled soldier, and in the third round, Alice, an innocent girl who is not even aware that she is participating in the Holy Grail War. Meanwhile, Hakuno does not regain their original memories, which should have been returned to them, and they don't even know why they are fighting. Nevertheless, they set their sights on survival and defeats the opposing Masters.

Amidst all this, the protagonist happens to witness a battle between two Masters who have always looked after them, Rin Tohsaka and Rani VIII. They are saved by the protagonist, although they lose their Master status. In the fifth round, the protagonist struggles against their sworn enemy Julius Belkisk Harway, but with the help of Rin and Rani, they manages to defeat him. However, in the sixth round, they find themselves fighting against the girl who was his ally.

Characters

In addition to characters from Fate/stay night, characters from other Type-Moon works and new ones were added to the game. While familiar characters from Fate/stay night and other Type-Moon works appear, they have many differences from their original iterations.

Masters

Hakuno Kishinami (岸波 白野, Kishinami Hakuno)

Voiced by: Atsushi Abe (Male), Yui Ishikawa (Female) (Japanese); Billy Kametz (Male), Ryan Bartley (Female) (English)

Hakuno is the protagonist of Fate/Extra. He or she is the Master of Saber, Caster, or Archer, depending on who is chosen in the game. The gender of Hakuno is also unspecified, and chosen by the player at the start.

Rin Tohsaka (遠坂 凛, Tōhsaka Rin)

Voiced by: Kana Ueda (Japanese); Mela Lee (English)

A member of the Resistance who joined the Grail War to stop the Harwey family. Master of Lancer, Cú Chulainn.

Rani VIII (ラニ=VIII, Rani Eito)

Voiced by: Asami Sanada (Japanese); Christine Marie Cabanos (English)

Homunculus created by the world's last alchemist. Master of Berserker, Lu Bu. She is encountered on the second floor and assists Hakuno and Nero.

Leonardo Bistario Harwey (レオナルド・ビスタリオ・ハーウェイ, Reonarudo Bisutario Hāwei)

Voiced by: Romi Park (Japanese); Laura Stahl (English)

Leader of the plutocracy that owns 60% of the world's wealth and called the strongest Master. Master of Saber, Gawain.

Shinji Matou (間桐 シンジ, Matō Shinji)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (Japanese); Kyle McCarley (English)

Gaming champion of Asia of 2030 and best friend of the protagonist. Master of Rider, Francis Drake.

Playable Servants

Saber (セイバー, Seibā) – Nero Claudius (ネロ・クラウディウス, Nero Kuraudiusu)

Voiced by: Sakura Tange (Japanese); Cassandra Lee Morris (English)

Nero is the lead heroine in Fate/Extra.

Archer (アーチャー, Āchā) – Nameless (無銘, Mumei)

Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (Japanese); Kaiji Tang (English) (Japanese)

Caster (キャスター, Kyasutā) – Tamamo no Mae (玉藻の前, Tamamo no Mae)

Voiced by: Chiwa Saito (Japanese); Erica Lindbeck (Fate/Grand Carnival) (English) (Japanese)

Other Servants

Rider (ライダー, Raidā) – Francis Drake (フランシス・ドレイク, Furanshisu Doreiku)

Voiced by: Urara Takano (Japanese); Jessica Gee George (English)

Archer (アーチャー, Āchā) – Robin Hood (ロビンフッド, Robin Huddo)

Voiced by: Kousuke Toriumi (Japanese); Vic Mignogna (English)

Caster (キャスター, Kyasutā) – Nursery Rhyme (ナーサリーライム, Nāsarī Raimu)

Voiced by: Ai Nonaka (Japanese); Xanthe Huynh (anime), Sarah Anne Williams (Fate/Grand Carnival) (English)

Berserker (バーサーカー, Bāsākā) – Lü Bu Fèngxiān (呂布 奉先, Hōsen Ryofu)

Voiced by: Kunihiko Yasui

Saber (セイバー, Seibā) – Gawain (ガウェイン, Gawein)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima (Japanese); Chris Patton (anime), J. P. Karliak (Fate/Grand Order movies) (English)

Saver (セイヴァー, Seivā) – Buddha (覚者(ブッダ), Budda)

Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka (Drama CD)

Berserker (バーサーカー, Bāsākā) – Li Shuwen (李書文, Ri Shobun)

Voiced by: Kunihiko Yasui (Japanese); Chris Hackney (English)

Lancer (ランサー, Ransā) – Cú Chulainn (クー・フーリン, Kū Hūrin)

Voiced by: Nobutoshi Canna (Japanese); Tony Oliver (Fate/Grand Carnival) (English)

Others

Sakura Matou (間桐 桜, Matō Sakura)

Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya (Japanese); Cristina Vee (English)

A Nurse who works in the nurse's office, she plays a much larger role in the CCC sequel.

Kirei Kotomine (言峰 綺礼, Kotomine Kirei)

Voiced by: Joji Nakata (Japanese); Armen Taylor (English)

A supervisor of the Holy Grail War, who also acts as a game guide and helper to the player.

Taiga Fujimura (藤村 大河, Fujimura Taiga)

Voiced by: Miki Ito

Issei Ryudo (柳洞 一成, Ryūdō Issei)

Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono

Shiki Ryogi (両儀 式, Ryōgi Shiki)

Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto

Aoko Aozaki (蒼崎 青子, Aozaki Aoko)

Touko Aozaki (蒼崎 橙子, Aozaki Tōko)

Development

Type-Moon producer Kazuya Niinō joined Imageepoch through CEO Ryo Mikagi to collaborate on a project. Niinō later contacted Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi for a proposed collaboration on the development of a new game in the Fate series, which, according to the producer, was to implement various genres. At the time, Type-Moon was involved in the finalization of Fate/hollow ataraxia, and had short-term plans to develop other projects–for which Nasu was forced to refuse the role as producer.

Despite the failure, Niinō did not abandon the idea of creating a new game, and in 2007, prepared a more detailed proposal: a Japanese role-playing game, with a plot for a fundamentally new Holy Grail War not related to the events of Fate/stay night. The basis of the work and themes is set in the near future with the setting on the Moon, which was previously briefly mentioned by Nasu as an element of the Tsukihime series. In addition, a supercomputer controlling the work of the Holy Grail within the virtual reality world, in which protagonists would be placed. Due to the peculiarities of the setting, Kazuya decided to make a role-playing game with a lot of textual information, akin to the visual novel series. The producers chose 3D graphics and seamless transition plans from a third party. To differentiate the product from the rest of the Fate franchise, Kazuya invited a third-party artist working under the pseudonym Arco Wada to design the characters, despite the fact that Takeuchi did all character illustrations for previous Type-Moon games. Wada was commissioned to create an outwardly similar character to provoke the audience which kept about "30% of the original design". Niinō indicated to Wada that the Roman emperor Nero should become the historical prototype of the main heroic Servant. The original sketch, made to imitate Takeuchi's style, was rejected, and Niinō insisted on depicting the character in Wada's own style without unnecessary detail. When Type-Moon leaders received a new offer from Niinō, they planned to stop the expansion of the Fate franchise and move to work on new projects. However, they considered the possibility of developing a role-playing game based on the visual novel since the creation of Fate/stay night, as they were fans of the genre and considered the elements of the setting of the Fate universe suitable for such a project. As such, Nasu and Takeuchi's new project was approved due to its spin-off status from the original game.

After the concept was approved, Niinō divided game development between two developers: Type-Moon, whose script and character design were supervised by Nasu and Takeuchi respectively; and Imageepoch, who assigned Shuetsu Kadowaki to be the head of program and create game mechanics, assigned to the head of programming. The producer himself reserved the connection between the creators and the control over individual plotlines.

Release

The game was first announced in the September 2009 issue of Famitsu, and was released for the PlayStation Portable in both the regular and "Type-Moon Box" editions; the latter included a Saber Figma figure from the game, a visual book and a limited edition soundtrack. While the original release was planned for March 2010, the release date was pushed back to July 22, 2010, for further development. The official theme song of the game is "Ranse Eroica" (亂世エロイカ, Chaotic Heroic), performed by Ali Project and the game's music was composed by Shinji Hosoe.

In July 2011, Aksys Games confirmed it would be publishing the game in North America. The North American Limited Edition included the special 15-page Fate Visual Works Art book and the 11 song Limited Soundtrack from the "Type-Moon Box" edition. In January 2012, Ghostlight announced its plans to release the game in PAL territories. The four-volume drama CD series Sound Drama Fate/EXTRA was also released starting from winter 2012.

A companion game Fate/Extra CCC was released on March 28, 2013, in Japan. The official theme song of the second game, "Sakura Meikyū" (サクラメイキュウ, Blossom Maze), is performed by Kanon Wakeshima.

Reception

According to review aggregator Metacritic, Fate/Extra received "mixed or average" reviews from critics. Some critics viewed it as a work that used Japanese role-playing game and visual novel elements.

Much of the focus within reviews had centered on the plot, which was considered to be what kept players engaged. They also praised the quality of the text, which, according to Dark Zero's Dominic Shird, was reminiscent of the game Lost Odyssey. While Heidi Kemps of GamePro remarked that as in the case of other Nasu's works, the exposition was prolonged and the manner of transmitting the characters' thoughts corresponded more to "traditional" visual novels. Other critics also made analogies to the genre and highlighted the decision trees, relationships points between characters, and nonstandard endings. Digital Fix reviewer Lewis Brown felt that these visual novel elements were well-implemented, but noted that the story would benefit if it had more dramatic components without an everyday school life.

The availability of three different Servants was positively received, and according to some reviewers, it encouraged the player to replay the game. However, the need for a New Game Plus mode, according to GameSpot's Shiva Stella, was controversial because of the main story's immutability. Lewis Brown emphasized the use of furigana in the game, including the localized English version, which added semantic nuances to the dialogue. The critics gave high marks from the in-game system for collecting information about enemy servants, which directly influenced the course of the battles by its results, defining battle tactics, which, according to Zack Welhouse from RPGamer, reminded with its atmosphere the novels The Hunger Games and Battle of the King. Welhouse also noted the lack of understanding of the events taking place on the part of the main characters, whose motivations were reduced to taking obligations. In the reviewers' opinions, the prologue of the game was unnecessarily stretched due to the time needed to unlock gameplay elements.

The audio-visual component of the game was well received. GameZone critic Stephanie Carmichael pointed out that the sprites' characters appearing in the dialog box performed well and contributed to the post-battle atmosphere. Reviewers noted the overall character design was reminiscent of anime, seamless transitions from a third-person camera when watching characters and the design of the "Arena" mode by the standards of Japanese role-playing games in the PlayStation Portable version. However, Dominic Shird suggested that developers should have created more diverse graphic schemes for dungeons instead of constantly using shades of blue; Zack Welhouse also highlighted the same type of monster design.

Media

Manga

Three manga adaptations based on the game were released. The first adaptation was written and illustrated by Robi〜na and serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Comptiq magazine from May 2011 to December 2014, compiling up to 6 tankōbon volumes. The second manga, which adapts the CCC storyline, was also written and illustrated by Robi〜na and was also serialized in Kadokawa's Comptiq magazine from July 2015 to March 2024, compiling up to 8 tankōbon volumes. A spinoff manga titled Fate/Extra CCC FoxTail (フェイト/エクストラ CCC FoxTail, Feito/Ekusutora CCC FoxTail) was written by Takenokoseijin and serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Comp Ace magazine in December 2013.

Anime

An anime adaptation and sequel titled Fate/Extra Last Encore (フェイト/エクストラ ラストアンコール, Feito/Ekusutora Rasuto Ankōru) was first announced on March 22, 2016, at the AnimeJapan Fate Project panel to be released in 2017. Shaft was revealed to be handling the animation with Kinoko Nasu returning as the writer. Akiyuki Shinbo and Yukihiro Miyamoto directed the series at Shaft, featuring character designs by Masaaki Takiyama and music composed by Satoru Kōsaki. On July 30, Atsushi Abe and Sakura Tange were confirmed to voice Hakuno Kishinami and Saber respectively. The series premiered January 28, 2018, on Tokyo MX. The opening theme is "Bright Burning Shout" by Takanori Nishikawa and the ending theme is "Tsuki to Hanataba" (月と花束, Moon and Bouquet) by Sayuri. Netflix licensed the series for worldwide online streaming before giving the rights to Aniplex of America.