Fate/Grand Order - Are you my Master?

[Yael]

We got Fate/Grand Order finally translated into English and got a server for ourselves, oppened last week.

I started playing and, even though my phone crashes every now and then, I'm still enjoying it as a Nasuverse fan.

If anyone's into the game, add me up, I'm kinda trying to level up some chars, all the way into this waifu game

For convenience's sake, I thought that we could get everyone who's playing their friend codes so we can support ourselves through the orders I'm also adding the JP server for User IDs, but I'm not playing that, so I won't be the first one

I highly recommend you that, if you like the Nasuverse, give it a try ASAP, as for its launch celebration the game is giving away free Quartz (summoning materials) and a limited-time free Saber Lily.

How's your experience so far? Favorite Servant?

Spoiler: User IDs US

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Nick	Code
Ami	442,363,271
Anarion	939,016,565
Callos_DeTerran	559,157,245
DrakeRaids	228,354,945
Fel	932,305,193
Loch	953,769,985
Manticoran	025,817, 326
NeoPhoenix	939,415,749
Nerocite	249,330,879
nightwyrm	938,030,873
Setsuna	859,204,200
Silva	192,524,732
Yæl	079,246,522

Current Singularity


Current Events (US)


New Servants (US)

Spoiler: Leonardo Da Vinci (Caster)

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Featured Servants (US)

[Anarion]

Oh sweet, someone started a thread for this. I very much enjoy the assorted Fate series, and I've been playing a bunch since the game came out.

Favorite servant by stats is the Altera I pulled. Favorite servant actually is a tough one, to be honest. In my current run, I'm really enjoying young Alexander the Great, who has some good voice lines, pretty nice art, and solid combat effectiveness for a 3 star. Also, Nero is just actually the best ever and the fact you get to hang with her for a whole chapter is awesome.

My friend code is 939,016,565 and my name there is also Anarion.

[Yael]

Oh sweet, someone started a thread for this. I very much enjoy the assorted Fate series, and I've been playing a bunch since the game came out.

Favorite servant by stats is the Altera I pulled. Favorite servant actually is a tough one, to be honest. In my current run, I'm really enjoying young Alexander the Great, who has some good voice lines, pretty nice art, and solid combat effectiveness for a 3 star. Also, Nero is just actually the best ever and the fact you get to hang with her for a whole chapter is awesome.

My friend code is 939,016,565 and my name there is also Anarion.

I got Atila too in a 3-quartz roll. Altera is pretty much my powerhouse at the moment, even if I have her only at 36.

Also, I rolled everything I had in the Gilgamesh rate-up and got pretty much nothing... *sadlife*

[Kitten Champion]

I started playing it a brief while ago, and just got through the introductory stage of the story.

It's better than I feared, at least in terms of mobile games. I was expecting the profit model to twist it into a convoluted mess, ya'know, like, a patchwork of otherwise unnecessary mechanics thrown in just to screw the whales out there. It's actually pretty comprehensible and straightforward, though - in my opinion - they would've been smarter to go more with a MOBA-type approach with Hero purchases and various aesthetic-only skins as the bread-and-butter. Though the Japanese mobile game market has it's own business philosophy, I guess I can respect that so long as it's not a UI clutterfest asking for money to so much as sneeze in its general direction.

I like the way the game's presented. The VN-lite story campaign isn't blowing me away thus far exactly, but it's not half-assed perfunctory content to glibly skip through either really. The gameplay is fun, there's not much variety yet but it's sufficient to keep me engaged. The real fun is the artwork and variety of heroes with their unique personas, and that's why the MOBA model would work well here I think.

As to me, I got an Elizabeth Bathory (Lancer) first thing and decided to roll with it. I haven't really expended much of the leveling materials the game showered me with straight off, I figured I'd just play along until I felt a genuine sense of struggle and then gradually scoot them forward. She's level 15 now - which is probably too high for my liking - but with lots of Sabers about she needed a relatively decent health pool.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I have given up on rolling Gold Servants but fortunately rarity in this game matters as much for gameplay as power levels do in determining who wins a fight in the original.

I've been grinding mostly but I just started Septem so I can unleash my level 30 Boudica on the unsuspecting Romans. Yes I know Boudica is garbage but the lady needed clothes and Ascension was the only way to get them. To bad Nero's the good guy, but I guess it's Extra Nero who's just kind of endearingly dumb.

[Anarion]

I started playing it a brief while ago, and just got through the introductory stage of the story.

It's better than I feared, at least in terms of mobile games. I was expecting the profit model to twist it into a convoluted mess, ya'know, like, a patchwork of otherwise unnecessary mechanics thrown in just to screw the whales out there. It's actually pretty comprehensible and straightforward, though - in my opinion - they would've been smarter to go more with a MOBA-type approach with Hero purchases and various aesthetic-only skins as the bread-and-butter. Though the Japanese mobile game market has it's own business philosophy, I guess I can respect that so long as it's not a UI clutterfest asking for money to so much as sneeze in its general direction.

I think MOBA style is well out of the Japanese market comfort zone. Making a gacha style game (that is, gain game currency, spend it to roll for random stuff with good stuff having lower appearance chances) is very typical for them, and some of the gacha games have done really well. I also play a lot of Puzzle and Dragons, which pretty much nailed the combination of rewarding whales while making the game playable for everyone else.

We'll see whether this one has staying power. The actual fighting mechanics aren't bad, and the interaction of different skills, class bonuses, noble phantasms, and choice of attack cards may mean that there's some real depth to team-building. Although Zhuge Liang buffing everybody and giving them all NP charge probably hurts option variety a little bit.

I like the way the game's presented. The VN-lite story campaign isn't blowing me away thus far exactly, but it's not half-assed perfunctory content to glibly skip through either really. The gameplay is fun, there's not much variety yet but it's sufficient to keep me engaged. The real fun is the artwork and variety of heroes with their unique personas, and that's why the MOBA model would work well here I think.

It's silly and the translation isn't great, but I'm enjoying it.

As to me, I got an Elizabeth Bathory (Lancer) first thing and decided to roll with it. I haven't really expended much of the leveling materials the game showered me with straight off, I figured I'd just play along until I felt a genuine sense of struggle and then gradually scoot them forward. She's level 15 now - which is probably too high for my liking - but with lots of Sabers about she needed a relatively decent health pool.

Elizabeth has great voice lines. love her.

I have given up on rolling Gold Servants but fortunately rarity in this game matters as much for gameplay as power levels do in determining who wins a fight in the original.

Rarity affects max level and thus max stats. In other words, a 5 star, a 3 star, and a 2 star will all start out not that far apart in stats. But the 5 star can go to level 50 before ascending and will max at level 80 or 90, probably with 11,000-15,000 in each stat. The 3 star requires ascension at 30, and will get to level 70 at most, winding up with stats around 8,000-10,000. The 2 star can only get up to level 60, possibly less if it doesn't have 4 ascensions, and isn't likely to be much higher than 7,500 in any stat.

So they start the same but their potential is quite different. Note, though, that some of the lower rarity guys are really useful. They either have good skills, particularly good noble phantasms, or special class features that give them really good synergy in a team. Hassan of the Cursed Arm, for example, is a 2-star assassin, but he's awesome.

I've been grinding mostly but I just started Septem so I can unleash my level 30 Boudica on the unsuspecting Romans. Yes I know Boudica is garbage but the lady needed clothes and Ascension was the only way to get them. To bad Nero's the good guy, but I guess it's Extra Nero who's just kind of endearingly dumb.

Nero is the best in all circumstances and the dialogue options you get to respond to her in this game are perfect.

[Yael]

Elizabeth has great voice lines. love her.

She's my main party Lancer. I personally like Cu Chulainn, but considering how I got her in the first place, I chose to keep her, and it is paying off against Archers. I love her idolish persona, too.

Rarity affects max level and thus max stats. In other words, a 5 star, a 3 star, and a 2 star will all start out not that far apart in stats. But the 5 star can go to level 50 before ascending and will max at level 80 or 90, probably with 11,000-15,000 in each stat. The 3 star requires ascension at 30, and will get to level 70 at most, winding up with stats around 8,000-10,000. The 2 star can only get up to level 60, possibly less if it doesn't have 4 ascensions, and isn't likely to be much higher than 7,500 in any stat.

So they start the same but their potential is quite different. Note, though, that some of the lower rarity guys are really useful. They either have good skills, particularly good noble phantasms, or special class features that give them really good synergy in a team. Hassan of the Cursed Arm, for example, is a 2-star assassin, but he's awesome.

Potential kinda varies, I think the Grail can break the cap, but the costs are insane and non-profitable for low star Servants, better reserved for SSR ones.

Nero is the best in all circumstances and the dialogue options you get to respond to her in this game are perfect.

I just wanted to get her but I didn't... I just love her as a Servant, and her visuals are just too good.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Actual vs. Potential is a good point, but 1-star Kojiro Sasaki or 2-star Hans Christian Andersen are still going to be some of the most useful Servants in the game for months until more people with their potential single-tartget damage or healing NP respectively come out. Or enemies that go above level 40.

[Anarion]

Potential kinda varies, I think the Grail can break the cap, but the costs are insane and non-profitable for low star Servants, better reserved for SSR ones.

I was leaving out Grail since it breaks cap for everyone. I'm not sure how many times you can grail something though. Is it a one-off to allow ten more levels, or does infinite grails lead to infinite stats?
[/QUOTE]

I just wanted to get her but I didn't... I just love her as a Servant, and her visuals are just too good.

After my initial resets to get something good, I saved all my pulls for after Septem, but alas no Nero. Someday.

I did pull Atalante from the Gilgamesh summons though, which I feel good about, even if she's not Gilgamesh.

Actual vs. Potential is a good point, but 1-star Kojiro Sasaki or 2-star Hans Christian Andersen are still going to be some of the most useful Servants in the game for months until more people with their potential single-tartget damage or healing NP respectively come out. Or enemies that go above level 40.

Oh absolutely. I think it's a sign that the game has some depth: good team setup and effective skill use can and will outdo just picking the things with the largest numbers and spamming the card select button. Kojiro is actually a really good example because he has skills to keep himself alive even with low stats, a strong NP, and the ability to max level that NP with dupes, meaning he'll be awesome for quite a while, even though he's likely to fall off at end tier content.

Also, there are enemies above level 40. Look for the interludes for some of the higher rarity servants. Altera's interlude quest recommends your party be level 70 and it is seriously tough.

[Yael]

Also, there are enemies above level 40. Look for the interludes for some of the higher rarity servants. Altera's interlude quest recommends your party be level 70 and it is seriously tough.

So does Emiya's second Interlude... I'm about to ascend him this weekend (if I can get those damn statues...) but I'm not sure I'm doing its Interlude quest anytime soon.

Spoiler: Unconfirmed Coordinates X-G

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Also, Heracles' mision in Fuyuki is recommended for a Level 40 party, but I had to go with Level 50s just to get through, Level 62, 200,000+ hp and him stacking evasions is just not fair!

[Anarion]

One more saber statue and I can do Altera's second ascension. I can see this game is going to have a lot of farming.

[Red Fel]

Well, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided to give this one a shot. So far? Mixed bag.

I love the art style. And the storyline is funny - several characters have genuinely enjoyable quirks and personalities. The plot twists and turns nicely for my tastes, keeps emotional involvement up. So far, so good.

Now let me talk about one pretty big minus for me - the gacha. Rant incoming.

Spoiler

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I've played a number of games with a number of gacha models, to varying degrees of satisfaction. For example, FFRK has a gacha model where the characters are not part of the gacha at all; they're event drops, so you can eventually get all of them for free. Rather, the gacha is for equippable relics. That works for me. Another example is Puzzle & Dragons, which can sometimes be frustrating but if you hold out for Godfests you're probably going to do alright, and can still handle most content with some planning and minimal fuss.

And then there's this lie. This horrible, horrible lie. Gachas that say "Do a 10-pull and get guaranteed results" are great. Gachas that say that with an asterisk are evil. This is evil. "Guaranteed SR or higher! ... which might be an add-on instead of a character."

Right now, my 4-stars consist of Heracles, Saber Lily, and Emiya. Heracles I got from the tutorial pull, and he's awesome, granted. Saber Lily I got for free, so it's understandable if she sucks. And Emiya I got from that ticket thing, because I had an appalling lack of Archer on my team. But that's it. I've done multiple 30-quartz pulls, and gotten multiple 4-star materials, instead of characters. And it's infuriating.

Games like this know why you pull. You pull for your waifu/husbando. You pull for the characters you like. Tales of Link figured that out. Fire Emblem Heroes figured that out. Sure, most gacha pulls were likely to net crap characters, but you were filling your team with characters. This game I can count the number of characters I've gotten across several 30-quartz pulls on one hand, without using all the fingers.

And don't start with rerolling. I know you can reroll and do that entire tedious tutorial all over again. A game in which you feel you have to do that just to be competitive is not a well-designed game.

That's not to say the game isn't fun. It's reasonably entertaining, although combat gets a bit same-y. Most fights are either a steamroll or a wall, with very little in between for me. And I don't mind the farming so much - you get used to it in mobile games. A lot of it isn't terribly intuitive - enhancing isn't well-explained, nor is forming your team - but again, it's fairly standard for mobile games. It's just annoying that one of the core concepts in the Fate universe - having an awesome Servant - is the most RNG thing in this game. I know it's a cash-grab, but does it have to be so blatant about it?

I haven't done any Ascensions yet, because nobody is adequate level. I've done a few skill-ups, and have seen no noticeable change. I have a Holy Grail I'm unlikely to use anytime soon, because that cost is ludicrous. I'm still playing, I'm just... Waiting for something.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Yeah I have literally the same 4-star situation you do except replace Berserkules with the cuter but less generally effective Lancer Elizabeth Bathory. I've just given up on actually rolling higher rarities now.

I will suggest doing some grinding on the "ember gathering" daily quests, though. That's where you get the vast majority of your Servant XP.

[Anarion]

I do hate the current gatcha, but one thing to point out is that when the game released, there was nothing special going on with the gatcha. Red Fel made the comparison to Puzzle and Dragon, and noted that one should only pull that gatcha during a godfest to get good results. With FGO, their version of godfests seems to be some of these special gatchas like the Gilgamesh one that came out a few days ago.

And I have had better results on that machine, pulling two Atalante, as well as hearing anecdotally from some other people who got Gilgamesh in ~30 rolls (which seems to match him having up to 10x his regular appearance rate). So it may be that the thing to do is work through the game with the starting 4 star servant and save all of the premium currency for special events that have the stuff you want, just like saving for PAD godfests.

[Yael]

Spoiler

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I've played a number of games with a number of gacha models, to varying degrees of satisfaction. For example, FFRK has a gacha model where the characters are not part of the gacha at all; they're event drops, so you can eventually get all of them for free. Rather, the gacha is for equippable relics. That works for me. Another example is Puzzle & Dragons, which can sometimes be frustrating but if you hold out for Godfests you're probably going to do alright, and can still handle most content with some planning and minimal fuss.

And then there's this lie. This horrible, horrible lie. Gachas that say "Do a 10-pull and get guaranteed results" are great. Gachas that say that with an asterisk are evil. This is evil. "Guaranteed SR or higher! ... which might be an add-on instead of a character."

Right now, my 4-stars consist of Heracles, Saber Lily, and Emiya. Heracles I got from the tutorial pull, and he's awesome, granted. Saber Lily I got for free, so it's understandable if she sucks. And Emiya I got from that ticket thing, because I had an appalling lack of Archer on my team. But that's it. I've done multiple 30-quartz pulls, and gotten multiple 4-star materials, instead of characters. And it's infuriating.

Games like this know why you pull. You pull for your waifu/husbando. You pull for the characters you like. Tales of Link figured that out. Fire Emblem Heroes figured that out. Sure, most gacha pulls were likely to net crap characters, but you were filling your team with characters. This game I can count the number of characters I've gotten across several 30-quartz pulls on one hand, without using all the fingers.

And don't start with rerolling. I know you can reroll and do that entire tedious tutorial all over again. A game in which you feel you have to do that just to be competitive is not a well-designed game.

Spoiler

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I do feel for you. The SSR* servants "rate up" is still 1% chance of it appearing, it's just that Gilgamesh is mostly granted to appear in case you get a 5*. That being said, it's heartreaking not getting those 5* pulls.
As far as I understand, some events really raise the rate of certain characters (popular ones) such as the Saber Wars, and the Nero's Championship (which I think is next), and so does the /Zero event, and so on.
I just hope for the last two ones, as both rate-up Arturia (I'm sorry, it kills me to call her Altria).

Spoiler: Mini-rant

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I am also kinda dissapointed about the special announcement for today's news.
Gilgamesh was added for 10 days to the Special Summon in the shop, but that's the same as just showing it to you and not letting you buy it. You need to have obtained the same SSR 5* Servant 6 times to obtain 1 medal, and you need 10 of those.

Yeah, thanks for allowing us entry to your treasury, King of Heroes.

[Anarion]

Spoiler

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I do feel for you. The SSR* servants "rate up" is still 1% chance of it appearing, it's just that Gilgamesh is mostly granted to appear in case you get a 5*. That being said, it's heartreaking not getting those 5* pulls.
As far as I understand, some events really raise the rate of certain characters (popular ones) such as the Saber Wars, and the Nero's Championship (which I think is next), and so does the /Zero event, and so on.
I just hope for the last two ones, as both rate-up Arturia (I'm sorry, it kills me to call her Altria).

Spoiler: Mini-rant

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I am also kinda dissapointed about the special announcement for today's news.
Gilgamesh was added for 10 days to the Special Summon in the shop, but that's the same as just showing it to you and not letting you buy it. You need to have obtained the same SSR 5* Servant 6 times to obtain 1 medal, and you need 10 of those.

Yeah, thanks for allowing us entry to your treasury, King of Heroes.

I assume the latter thing is for people that dropped a ton of money on the game's release. Like, if you did spend that much cash and didn't get what you wanted randomly, all options are available. Though why on earth they'd make that a separate announcement instead of just a minor part of the event is beyond me.

[Hunter Noventa]

How's the game for someone who doesn't really know about the Nasuverse much? (I tried to play Fate/Extra and just couldn't get into the gameplay at all)

[Anarion]

How's the game for someone who doesn't really know about the Nasuverse much? (I tried to play Fate/Extra and just couldn't get into the gameplay at all)

The game itself is average, overall. There's enough gameplay in the class, skill, and card system that paying attention to your team setup and attack choices will significantly improve how you do, but there aren't that many hard battles, so you wind up doing a lot of farming where it doesn't really matter. If you don't know any of the characters, the question I have is whether you like the art at all. If you don't find the universe aesthetics charming in some way, you'll probably get bored with this game after a few days.

[Red Fel]

Okay, so having spent a couple of days level-farming, and having gotten several Ascensions under my belt... I don't retract what I ranted earlier, but I do soften it somewhat. Again, the game does a poor job of explaining just how important it is to farm levels (and, seriously, why can't characters just level normally from use?) but once you've done so, a lot opens up.

How's the game for someone who doesn't really know about the Nasuverse much? (I tried to play Fate/Extra and just couldn't get into the gameplay at all)

The game itself is average, overall. There's enough gameplay in the class, skill, and card system that paying attention to your team setup and attack choices will significantly improve how you do, but there aren't that many hard battles, so you wind up doing a lot of farming where it doesn't really matter. If you don't know any of the characters, the question I have is whether you like the art at all. If you don't find the universe aesthetics charming in some way, you'll probably get bored with this game after a few days.

This. There are a lot of mechanics which, while not hidden, aren't entirely obvious. The simplest explanation is that you build a team of characters (two, plus a friend, plus substitutes when your characters get massacred) with a very Rock-Paper-Scissors feel between character classes. But beyond that, you consider the fact that certain characters get certain attacks more often (for example, Heracles gets three Buster cards, one Quick, and one Arts, while Gilgamesh gets one Quick, and two each of Arts and Buster) which lends somewhat more strategy to team composition.

But the gameplay itself is exceedingly same-y, as I mentioned above. Fight starts. You receive five cards from the combined pools of your on-screen characters, and put together a chain of attacks. Do it right, things die and you move on. Do it less than right, things attack you. Occasionally perform a special attack. Repeat until either your enemies or your characters are dead.

Yes, there are active skills that do things like boost DEF or charge your special gauge. But those don't feel particularly special in terms of gameplay; they're just a nice boost. And the special attacks I mentioned above - called Noble Phantasms - can be quite powerful, but frequently take long enough to charge that you may rarely use them.

Compare this with Puzzle and Dragons, where gameplay varies based on what kind of team you field, how they synergize, and how you overcome enemy strengths and tricks. Compare it with Final Fantasy Record Keeper, where you outfit your team with equipment, multiple slottable abilities, and chargeable specials with great utility and versatility; and fight enemies with various strengths, weaknesses, abilities and gimmicks.

By comparison, the gameplay in this game is... Tame. Simple to learn, straightforward to use. A bit RNGish at times. As Anarion notes, if you don't like the feel of the game's aesthetic, the mechanics probably aren't going to grab you.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Most of the nuance in this game comes down to team construction rather than in-battle strategy. There's a lot of variables to account for there, as every Servant is a different combination of Class, Attack/HP, Card loadout, Noble Phantasm, Skills, and Passive Skills No One Actually Looks At But Are Actually Important, plus some hidden stats for the truly grognard out there......but early game, you don't have that many options and are largely relying on Class and maybe card layout, until you start rolling more Servants or Ascending them to get more skills.

[Anarion]

Most of the nuance in this game comes down to team construction rather than in-battle strategy. There's a lot of variables to account for there, as every Servant is a different combination of Class, Attack/HP, Card loadout, Noble Phantasm, Skills, and Passive Skills No One Actually Looks At But Are Actually Important, plus some hidden stats for the truly grognard out there......but early game, you don't have that many options and are largely relying on Class and maybe card layout, until you start rolling more Servants or Ascending them to get more skills.

That's appropriate though. PAD as a point of comparion starts out with almost no monsters on your team and you can clear everything with one or two combos. There are plenty of servants through the friend machine that allow for mixing and matching of teams and types after a couple weeks of play, even without spending money. We'll also have to see if, like other gacha games, they start giving away more and more premium currency over time to allow people to constantly make new rolls as new stuff releases.

[Red Fel]

So, I finally picked up another 4-star (is that SR?) Servant. Unfortunately, it's Lancelot (Berserker). While he's legitimately decent, I already have Heracles, who is legitimately awesome. Zerkalot is good if you have no other Zerker, but he doesn't stack up to the OG.

I've decided I'll stay with the game awhile, at least until Iskandar's event comes along. Gilgamesh may be the King of Heroes, but Iskandar is my favorite, and I will entirely rage quit if I end up not pulling Big Red.

Anybody else still playing?

[Anarion]

So, I finally picked up another 4-star (is that SR?) Servant. Unfortunately, it's Lancelot (Berserker). While he's legitimately decent, I already have Heracles, who is legitimately awesome. Zerkalot is good if you have no other Zerker, but he doesn't stack up to the OG.

I've decided I'll stay with the game awhile, at least until Iskandar's event comes along. Gilgamesh may be the King of Heroes, but Iskandar is my favorite, and I will entirely rage quit if I end up not pulling Big Red.

Anybody else still playing?

4* is SR, yeah. And I'm still playing. Once you hit the mid level 50s, the game doesn't really take much commitment. Even with the daily quest costs halved during this Gilgamesh event, you just run a few things until you're out of stamina and then done for the day, and you level up once every other day or so and get another round of farming.

Which is good, actually. I've cleared all the story missions and free quests for saint quartz already. So I'm on farming stuff for ascensions and skill ups, and they're all rare drops. Nothing to do but clear the hardest daily quests or Germany chimeras until they released the next story update.

[Yael]

I'm also still at it.

As far as I understand, the game is easy for the time being, but when more events in the future begin to pop the importancy of your party composition (aside from its classes) will be important. At the moment there's a summer event in the japanese server where you fight a big hermit crab that takes 1-3 damage per attack from non-divine servants. Which gets interesting (and I also have Basaka in a decent, high level.)

[Red Fel]

I'm also still at it.

As far as I understand, the game is easy for the time being, but when more events in the future begin to pop the importancy of your party composition (aside from its classes) will be important. At the moment there's a summer event in the japanese server where you fight a big hermit crab that takes 1-3 damage per attack from non-divine servants. Which gets interesting (and I also have Basaka in a decent, high level.)

I mean, you say "easy for the time being," but there's a bit of a spectrum of easy, there. Like, I can do a lot of the dailies, plenty of story modes, but Interludes are still a bear. I managed to clear Berserkules' Interlude thanks to a high-level Zhuge Liang friend, but now EMIYA's is giving me trouble.

With you in terms of party planning, though. Unless you're prepared to run Shielder/Berserker/Ruler on everything, you need to take class affinities into account, as a bare minimum. And then there are the Four Cavalries (translation errors bedamned, Calvary is something completely different) fights with a freaking Dragon at the end; you really don't want to bring a Berserker to that at all, if it can be avoided. (For my party, it basically cannot.)

Side note, I really like the aesthetic with the Dragon fights. The whole concept in-universe that Dragons are so magically charged and powerful that just one existing is a huge and terrifying deal is really well-communicated in the fact that their attacks are all AoEs and they don't even fit on the screen. I like that.

[Gastronomie]

ohai. I'm a Japanese user who started this year February, and am genuinely interested in how the English version's going so far. May I ask several questions?

• Do the Servants have English voices, or are their voices still Japanese? Becaue if it's the latter, I would probably find it incomprehensible if I were American/British/whatever.
• How far is the story so far? Fuyuki (prologue) only, or further in?
• Is the Servant list limited? Up to what number servant (in the ServantDex) has been opened up?
• Have there been any special events?

Spoiler: On the note of the Gacha system

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Japanese smartphone social games are generally designed so that you need to throw in tens of thousands of yen (= hundreds of dollars) to get the highest-rarity character you want. Indeed it's a frustrating system for some, and whoever thought it up first is a terrible person, but it's still simply how Japanese social games are. It's designed for people to drop money into it anyways. On first glance, thugging that much money into a social game seems pretty stupid, but you could argue card games and other hobbies are not that much different.
Rather, FGO is much better than a majority of other Japanese social games in how low-rarity characters are, if used right, just as powerful as high-rarity ones. Arash, Anderson, and Hassan are examples of low-star Servants which remain powerful until the present day, as are almost all the 3-star Archers (Euryale, Robin Hood, David, etc.)
Add how, since 3-star and lower Servants are easier to raise their Noble Phantasm level, at times, lower-star characters may have more powerful Noble Phantasms than high-star ones.
Also, by participating in certain events, you can obtain certain special (event only) 4-star Servants for free (if you get through the event, it also becomes Noble Phantasm Level 5). And a majority of them are hilariously powerful.
Think of it this way: In FGO, if you obtain a 5-star Servant, you're just really, really lucky. In no means is it a requirement to get through the game, but if you do own one, it becomes sorta easier in certain quests.
In the case in which a character you really like from the original series becomes a 5-star and you want to pull it... well, if you really want it, no choice other than to drop your money.
Oh, and one last thing: Skill Level. I doubt it's that much of an issue in the first chapters, but if you feel like raising the skill level of a 5-star servant, beware, because it is living hell. It's probably much more of a living hell than actually pulling out that 5-star; you will need LOADS of time to do it. You could even argue 3-star Servants are better in how they don't take that much time and resources to raise their skill level.

Spoiler: On the note of the storyline

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This is just my personal opinion, but the storyline gets better at chapter 5, and proceeds to become really, really entertaning and exciting from chapter 6.
I don't know how far the storyline in English has been translated so far, but if chapter 6 is yet to be released, wait for it. It's amazing, and so are the chapters after it.

Spoiler: On the note of the fighting system

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It seems simple and bland on first glance, but once you start leveling up a lot of servants, you'll realize it's more than meets the eye. I do agree it's more about building the team rather than actually playing it during the actual combat, but creating Arts Parties (parties consisting of only characters that have 3 (minimum 2) Arts cards, so that you can go ARTS CHAIN almost every round and constantly hurl Noble Phantasms) or Critical Parties (parties which contain a lot of Quick cards, preferrably with someone who has a skill concerning raisiing the damage of critical attacks and/or someone who can suck in more critical stars than normal using skills) is pretty fun.

[Anarion]

ohai. I'm a Japanese user who started this year February, and am genuinely interested in how the English version's going so far. May I ask several questions?

• Do the Servants have English voices, or are their voices still Japanese? Becaue if it's the latter, I would probably find it incomprehensible if I were American/British/whatever.
• How far is the story so far? Fuyuki (prologue) only, or further in?
• Is the Servant list limited? Up to what number servant (in the ServantDex) has been opened up?
• Have there been any special events?

Spoiler: On the note of the Gacha system

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Japanese smartphone social games are generally designed so that you need to throw in tens of thousands of yen (= hundreds of dollars) to get the highest-rarity character you want. Indeed it's a frustrating system for some, and whoever thought it up first is a terrible person, but it's still simply how Japanese social games are. It's designed for people to drop money into it anyways. On first glance, thugging that much money into a social game seems pretty stupid, but you could argue card games and other hobbies are not that much different.
Rather, FGO is much better than a majority of other Japanese social games in how low-rarity characters are, if used right, just as powerful as high-rarity ones. Arash, Anderson, and Hassan are examples of low-star Servants which remain powerful until the present day, as are almost all the 3-star Archers (Euryale, Robin Hood, David, etc.)
Add how, since 3-star and lower Servants are easier to raise their Noble Phantasm level, at times, lower-star characters may have more powerful Noble Phantasms than high-star ones.
Also, by participating in certain events, you can obtain certain special (event only) 4-star Servants for free (if you get through the event, it also becomes Noble Phantasm Level 5). And a majority of them are hilariously powerful.
Think of it this way: In FGO, if you obtain a 5-star Servant, you're just really, really lucky. In no means is it a requirement to get through the game, but if you do own one, it becomes sorta easier in certain quests.
In the case in which a character you really like from the original series becomes a 5-star and you want to pull it... well, if you really want it, no choice other than to drop your money.
Oh, and one last thing: Skill Level. I doubt it's that much of an issue in the first chapters, but if you feel like raising the skill level of a 5-star servant, beware, because it is living hell. It's probably much more of a living hell than actually pulling out that 5-star; you will need LOADS of time to do it. You could even argue 3-star Servants are better in how they don't take that much time and resources to raise their skill level.

Spoiler: On the note of the storyline

Show

This is just my personal opinion, but the storyline gets better at chapter 5, and proceeds to become really, really entertaning and exciting from chapter 6.
I don't know how far the storyline in English has been translated so far, but if chapter 6 is yet to be released, wait for it. It's amazing, and so are the chapters after it.

Spoiler: On the note of the fighting system

Show

It seems simple and bland on first glance, but once you start leveling up a lot of servants, you'll realize it's more than meets the eye. I do agree it's more about building the team rather than actually playing it during the actual combat, but creating Arts Parties (parties consisting of only characters that have 3 (minimum 2) Arts cards, so that you can go ARTS CHAIN almost every round and constantly hurl Noble Phantasms) or Critical Parties (parties which contain a lot of Quick cards, preferrably with someone who has a skill concerning raisiing the damage of critical attacks and/or someone who can suck in more critical stars than normal using skills) is pretty fun.

Hi and welcome! To answer your questions
1. The servants still have all Japanese voices, but they provide English translations of all the Japanese lines you've unlocked if you look up the servant info in My Room. I like it better that way, since you get to hear the sound of the original voice. I also speak some Japanese though, so I'm not sure if my perspective is the same as other peoples.

2. The current story stops at the end of Septem. Okeanos is visible, but selecting it gives a popup that it will be released in a future content update. This allows for farming some servants second or third ascensions, but some items just aren't in the game, like the horseshoes for ascending 3 star Alexander III

3. My current servant list goes up to Jeanne d'Arc at number 59. Orion isn't out, so I think that's where it stops.

4. There's one currently running special event with Gilgamesh. They've got a special gatcha with improved odds for Gilgamesh, Atalante, and a few others. They've also given out a bunch of skill up materials, some ascension stuff, a bunch of summon tickets, and some apples. We might get the Nero event sometime soon as well, but I'm not sure.

Regarding the spoilered stuff, I've already shared my thoughts on the gacha earlier in the thread. I'll add that I think the really important thing for a game like this is that it's possible for a free or low money player to have a good experience. FGO is less reliant on friends than some other games of this type that I've seen, but I still think it's important for the game's success that there's enough players that people are able to talk about the game and there are friends available to play with. These sorts of games don't feel as fun if there's only a tiny community of high spenders. I'm also really happy to hear that as they make more stuff available, there will be options for specialized teams based on specific card sets and skill usage. Team synergy and strategy is the space I see the most room to add strategic depth as the game evolves.

[Blackhawk748]

all, i started this like a week or 2 ago, and i gotta say, i got lucky on my first two pulls. I got Siegfried on the tutorial pull and then i got Saber Lily and Chevalier d'eon on my second. Ad im pretty sure i got Prototype Cu Culihain and Medusa on that same pull.

Also, what is with all the Cu Culihains? Seriously, i swear i've pulled like 3 of them (not complaining hes good for XP)

[Anarion]

all, i started this like a week or 2 ago, and i gotta say, i got lucky on my first two pulls. I got Siegfried on the tutorial pull and then i got Saber Lily and Chevalier d'eon on my second. Ad im pretty sure i got Prototype Cu Culihain and Medusa on that same pull.

Also, what is with all the Cu Culihains? Seriously, i swear i've pulled like 3 of them (not complaining hes good for XP)

That's not terrible, but I wouldn't call it lucky either. You're guaranteed a 4 star servant in your first pull, of which Siegfried is actually not that great among the possible options. Everyone gets a free Saber Lily (I think...did they end that promo already?), and Chevalier d'eon is good, but not that spectacular by any means. Sorry to burst your bubble on that one.

Prototype Cu, btw, has an increased appearance rate on the Gilgamesh gacha, which is probably why you got several. I hope when you say good for XP that you're not feeding off dupes though. You want at least 4 dupes of the same servant to max level their noble phantasm.

[Blackhawk748]

That's not terrible, but I wouldn't call it lucky either. You're guaranteed a 4 star servant in your first pull, of which Siegfried is actually not that great among the possible options. Everyone gets a free Saber Lily (I think...did they end that promo already?), and Chevalier d'eon is good, but not that spectacular by any means. Sorry to burst your bubble on that one.

Prototype Cu, btw, has an increased appearance rate on the Gilgamesh gacha, which is probably why you got several. I hope when you say good for XP that you're not feeding off dupes though. You want at least 4 dupes of the same servant to max level their noble phantasm.

Huh, didnt know you got Lily for free, neat.

...well wish i had known that earlier. Oh well, live and learn. Frankly im rather happy with Sigfried and i dont have Chavalier as i didnt like her. Really liking the Carmilla i got for free from that promo. She's wrecking everything for me.