Fate/Grand Order IV - Are you my Master? [Rerun - Lite]

[Velaryon]

Yay, the forum's back!

So, I rolled hard for Shuten-Douji and Raikou when they were available, but came up empty-handed. Skipped the Semiramis banner entirely (ye gods, that chocolate event was a slog), and am skipping the current Shiki banner as well. I'm happy to get the welfare version of Shiki, and while I wouldn't object to Saber Shiki joining my team I'm not interested in spending a lot of resources trying to get her.

I also finished Shinjuku and started in on Agartha. While the story of Agartha isn't particularly engaging and everything has a lot of HP, I honestly expected the whole place to be much worse based on the reactions here. I don't know if it's because my servant lineup just works well there or I haven't hit the really difficult parts yet, but so far it hasn't been as bad as everyone made it sound.

[Kitten Champion]

I did two ten-rolls on the Valentine's Jack/Semiramis banner with hopes for Jack, mostly. Got a gold Saber - Altera appeared - followed by a gold Archer - Atalanta - then a Berserker - Penthesilea joined the party - and finally a gold Assassin...

and it was Stheno, obviously. Who else would it be?

Plus, I got all the event CEs I could want. So, not bad at all considering my average luck even if I didn't get the grand prize.

I'm working my way back up SQ mountain for the Summer. How far I get will determine what banner I roll for. The coming additional SQ for the weekly quests in nice for that, even it's it's just one more.

Other than that, this KnK event has gone smoothly. I understand they rebalanced it from the original run to make grinding certain missions easier. I haven't felt compelled to use Apples at any point. I mean, I did, technically, but that was merely because I was bored and wanted to play. Still up on my net Apple supply.

The QP and all the shop gems were much appreciated to get a few of my more costly skills up. Getting a single Waver skill to ten took ages, but at least I have that one done finally.

[NeoPhoenix0]

I wish the forums hadn't gone down when they did. I was looking forward to battle reports from the 200 floor climbs. That was fun if a bit time consuming irl. Also that Valentine's event was way too grindy.

As far as the current event goes. I'm getting through it really fast. I am almost definitely going to be waiting a day or two for the roof to unlock. But there is still plenty of servant attribute based missions to do.

Managed to get the new Archer with 6 tickets on day one. I was happy then looked at her skills. Now I am overjoyed. That first skill is amazing.

[Leecros]

I wish the forums hadn't gone down when they did. I was looking forward to battle reports from the 200 floor climbs. That was fun if a bit time consuming irl. Also that Valentine's event was way too grindy.

I really liked the event, but i'll admit that I found it a little underwhelming. Maybe it's because I overprepared for it (I went through and leveled a large number of Servants to use in the event), but I sort of expected it to be more difficult. I didn't even really use the hot springs efficiently and completed all 200 floors with time to spare.


And yeah ,Valentines day was too grinding. I only got about half-way to the chocolate goal before I got burnt out and stopped playing for a few days. Only got on to get my daily bonuses.



New additions to my roster since Forum Death:

Tomoe Gozen
Martha
Fujino (Rip All Bridges Everywhere)

[Hunter Noventa]

V-day was rough indeed. I did manage to get Mama Raikou from the Oni Tower when I went for Tomoe though.

[Saambell]

Huzzah, forum returns.
I found Setsubun fine, as i had a great mix of leveled and unleveled so for the vast number of floors i brought 1 leveled with ce and 2 unleveled with the davinci event 20np to party on death ces. The actual "worst" part of Setsubun was on one of the last days of the banner i did a 10 roll hoping for Tomoe as shes adorable. I just wanted a 4 star. The gacha gives me Atilla and my 5th Ozy. That last one is ridiculous. Then i did a few rolls for valentines and got Semi super fast. The event was grindy, but i enjoyed it. Gave context to the prisma semi art i had seen. Then i did a single 10 roll on the KnK rerun banner and got both Saber Shiki and Fujino at the same time. So far im at about 65 missions done and slowly working through the gems in the shop.

[Velaryon]

I wish the forums hadn't gone down when they did. I was looking forward to battle reports from the 200 floor climbs. That was fun if a bit time consuming irl. Also that Valentine's event was way too grindy.

Yeah, I would happily have taken a few days to a week off the Valentine's event and given it to Setsubun. I only made it to floor 150, and that just barely.

[Kitten Champion]

Honestly, I was expecting harder travels for the 160 and higher boss battles in the Oni Pagoda. Something more akin to the ultra high difficulty challenge quests, or at least the harder boss battle quests from the story. Regardless of their gimmick all the bosses dropped to a pretty straightforward attack-them-till-they-die strategy and Waver/Mash/Jalter worked every time. The most difficult time I had was on Medea's floor because I heavily debuffed her with Waver's NP not knowing her gimmick was to reflect those conditions back on my party when her HP bar was broken, but even then I still won with just the three members on the first try. I was expecting to lose a few times and have to revise my strategies or slot in additional Servants, but I never did.

Once I was comfortable with the thought that I could clear any of the mid-floors with just one max-level (with the event CE) and two low-level fodder Servants (equipped with CEs that boost party NP upon death), it became a game of cycling through them.

[NeoPhoenix0]

for the towers, i still finished with a couple days to spare but i learned that i had very few leveled assassins. most of them don't especially appeal to me and i got shiki the first knk event around, and then got jack and shuten really early on so i never had a need to level them either. so now i am making an effort to level some of them like assassin emiya, and i just got danzo with the 4 star ticket, cause she appealed to me.

[Velaryon]

The tower event did motivate me to level up a few more servants. I got moving on raising up caster Gil and Nitocris, leveled up Assassin of Paraiso, even threw a few embers at Angra Mainyu.

[Resileaf]

I also expected a harder time in the tower. Turns out just about any AoE servant with kaleidoscope will take care of most floors. Still, it was fun, I got to use loads of servants I otherwise don't have the opportunity to.

No summons on this side though. Waiting for Okita's final rate up.

[ellenate]

Happy to know i'm not the only one who had trouble with valentine, it was the first time i didn't complete an event.

[NeoPhoenix0]

Yeah I don't think it is possible to complete the last Valentine's event without apples, unless you are leveling up. Speaking of which I just leveled up. Only 15 mil exp till lv 139.

Also why does the bridge obliterator need to have nearly eresh levels of witch steak addiction ;-; it is going to be a very long time till I max her skills. Eresh comes first.

[spectralphoenix]

I liked the Oni Tower a lot. I wouldn't mind more events that encourage you to give the whole team some playtime. Drew for Shuten, didn't get her but walked away with Tomoe and Banana.

I have no idea what it would take to finish out the Valentine's event. Put a couple apples in and still wound up far short of the goal. No draws.

Current event is alright. The mission format is a bit more interesting than the pure farming events, and I'm happy to finally get Shiki, but the story just seems a bit underwhelming. Put some tickets in, but nothing came out.

[Resileaf]

I liked the Oni Tower a lot. I wouldn't mind more events that encourage you to give the whole team some playtime.

You'll be happy to know that Japan got a similar event this year, so in two years, we'll get it too.

[Velaryon]

I used some tickets when Lancer Alter was on rate up a few days ago, hoping to get NP2 for her, but no luck. However, I got Karna instead, meaning I now have 3 solid Lancer options between Lalter, Enkidu, and Karna.

[Kitten Champion]

Oh~

Strengthening Quests for my Marie, Carmilla... and Martha too. It's a good week for every Servant I got with my initial tutorial roll.

Particularly happy with Carmilla, her NP was already relatively good and the buff is pretty substantive on top of that.

[ellenate]

got kiara!

now that i can officially skip okita (alter), saving for summer should go a lot smoother.

the only ones in my way are skadi (who i feel i can probably ignore, considering everyone is going for her) and 13mil campaing

[Hunter Noventa]

Huh...there's no event running. Can they do that? I didn't know they could do that.

In truth it's fine, I'm working on the new rank ups. Getting more mileage out of Melt, Liz and Carmilla is great.

[Leon]

The Garden of sinners event was quite the boost for my Obeisance. So many skill ups or rank ups unlocked. Kinda happy there is no event running actually as back to back with Valentines and Sinners was a intense amount of playing so its nice to have a breather. Now i just something that has a lot of horseshoes as rewards since that is my next big hurdle of resources.

[Kitten Champion]

I felt a need to share this for some reason.



If asked what I'd imagine Odysseus' Noble Phantasm would be this would not be my first response. Which is probably why I'm not working for Delightworks.

[Saambell]

They had two paths with him. One is reference the Trojan Horse, which they did, or base it on his long trip home. If he had been an archer I would say his NP would be based on his famous identity revealing arrow shot. As a rider it would have to be connected to either sailing his ship home, or how he used the horse to help win the war. Given all the other mechanical based stuff revolving around Greek Myth in the FGO universe, a Mecha Trojan horse isn't too outright surprising, but it does feel real out there compared to a lot of other characters.
It really makes each arcs characters contrast strongly with previous arcs. Kind of funny how Orion's NP is the most subdued in terms of animations and most in line with older character's animations, yet so far he's been one of the most broken powerhouses in recent game.

[Velaryon]

Well, I'm glad Odysseus is coming into the game, though that... really doesn't seem at all like Odysseus to me at a quick glance.

On another note, what's the best CE to get from this Chaldea Boys Collection thing?

[Saambell]

Well, I'm glad Odysseus is coming into the game, though that... really doesn't seem at all like Odysseus to me at a quick glance.

On another note, what's the best CE to get from this Chaldea Boys Collection thing?

If you missed 2019's summer CE White Cruising, the 4 star one with Jeanne and Sanzang, the Dante's Files 5 Star CE does the same thing as a MLB White Cruising, but at increased cost. Of the 4 stars, Gateau au Chocolat seems nice for a buster crit character? The other 4 star ones kind of feel they need to be MLB to keep up.

EDIT: However, I have seen a lot of people comment that besides this one and next years, there's not going to be another free Star Gather Rate Up CE. So Star of Camalot is a real worthwhile pick.

[Kitten Champion]

They had two paths with him. One is reference the Trojan Horse, which they did, or base it on his long trip home. If he had been an archer I would say his NP would be based on his famous identity revealing arrow shot. As a rider it would have to be connected to either sailing his ship home, or how he used the horse to help win the war. Given all the other mechanical based stuff revolving around Greek Myth in the FGO universe, a Mecha Trojan horse isn't too outright surprising, but it does feel real out there compared to a lot of other characters.
It really makes each arcs characters contrast strongly with previous arcs. Kind of funny how Orion's NP is the most subdued in terms of animations and most in line with older character's animations, yet so far he's been one of the most broken powerhouses in recent game.

The problem with Odysseus is he's mostly about being crafty - unscrupulously so - rather than supernatural strength or divine/magical gifts. Though he is favoured by Athena quite a bit so I'd probably have given him something related to her in the way other heroes have adopted symbols and powers of a deity they're associated with, however indirectly.

Still, yeah, based on my very flimsy proxy knowledge of coming story elements, they seem to have gone on a Sufficiently Advanced route with Greek mythology. So this makes sense. It is weird to think that mecha laser horse is competing with, say, Tsubame Gaeshi or getting stabbed by a minor French aristocrat in a funny hat.

As for the CEs, none are especially eye-catching. Still, I'll probably take the NP-up per turn one, even though it's fairly tepid overall without MLB it still doesn't cost as much as Prisma Cosmos and I'm not confined to Arts-based Servants like with Afternoon Party.

[Resileaf]

I personally don't mind spoilers, but I would say that maybe posting open spoilers (since that stuff has only been released in Japan) isn't the best ideas for a public forum?

[Kitten Champion]

I personally don't mind spoilers, but I would say that maybe posting open spoilers (since that stuff has only been released in Japan) isn't the best ideas for a public forum?

Maybe, but I genuinely don't really know anything beyond just the art direction with the NPs mostly. Like with Europa riding a mecha bull while her NP is also her summoning a super-robot to perform a rocket punch.

[Saambell]

I personally don't mind spoilers, but I would say that maybe posting open spoilers (since that stuff has only been released in Japan) isn't the best ideas for a public forum?

For me, the spoilers to avoid are the story spoilers. Plot events and the like. What servants are coming, the mechanics of said servants, and what events are in the future I feel are actually the biggest positives of NA. By being 2 years behind, we can see whats coming up in terms of mechanics and characters, and plan our playing for them. Being able to see a waifu/op servant years ahead lets you save up, grind ahead of time, and just generally be prepared. Its one of the biggest tools to remaining F2P for a LOT of people. Meanwhile in JP, where no one knows whats coming besides like a week ahead, whales are everywhere, people spending SQ on grinding materials cause they didn't know they needed them. People throwing SQ at one banner cause they saw someone they liked, then the next event has someone they want more, but they burned their SQ already. Being 2 years behind and being able to see what servants are coming and the items they need is one of the biggest strengths NA has, and one I would not give up at all even if it meant being more up to date with JP.

Yes I would be super mad if someone posted story spoilers, as that's one of the things I feel needs to be kept hidden. But talking mechanics and upcoming servants I feel is NAs biggest advantage that shouldn't be stifled.

[Resileaf]

Fair enough, but if this retro-actively becomes a story spoiler because of future story reasons, consider yourselves warned. XD

[Kitten Champion]

For me, the spoilers to avoid are the story spoilers. Plot events and the like. What servants are coming, the mechanics of said servants, and what events are in the future I feel are actually the biggest positives of NA. By being 2 years behind, we can see whats coming up in terms of mechanics and characters, and plan our playing for them. Being able to see a waifu/op servant years ahead lets you save up, grind ahead of time, and just generally be prepared. Its one of the biggest tools to remaining F2P for a LOT of people. Meanwhile in JP, where no one knows whats coming besides like a week ahead, whales are everywhere, people spending SQ on grinding materials cause they didn't know they needed them. People throwing SQ at one banner cause they saw someone they liked, then the next event has someone they want more, but they burned their SQ already. Being 2 years behind and being able to see what servants are coming and the items they need is one of the biggest strengths NA has, and one I would not give up at all even if it meant being more up to date with JP.

Yes I would be super mad if someone posted story spoilers, as that's one of the things I feel needs to be kept hidden. But talking mechanics and upcoming servants I feel is NAs biggest advantage that shouldn't be stifled.

It does have the depressing side effect of NA players hotly anticipating a Servant release for months - if not years - in advanced... and finding the Gatcha gods simply don't care.

Still, I want to know what Servants are coming up and whether their battle animations interests me given watching those encompasses most of the game experience. Also, as Red Fel pointed out, if you're planning mostly around the meta and balancing your roster out, knowing what welfare Servants are coming out soon-ish or when you're going to get a free 4-star ticket and what Servants will be available then is pretty great.