Fate/stay night

Fate/stay night is structured like three games in one, each following a different route with its own vibe. The basic setup is this insane fight to the death tournament called the Holy Grail War, where mages team up with legendary heroes to battle it out. You play as Shirō, this kinda dense but super earnest guy who'd literally risk his life for anyone. The real strength here is the characters, everyone's got layers and their own stuff going on, making the world feel incredibly real. Starting with the Fate route is a solid intro: it's all about Saber, the iconic knight, and Shirō fully embracing his dream of being a hero. It's good, but it's just the warm up. Then Unlimited Blade Works hits, it's packed with action and alliances, and the heroine is Rin Tohsaka, the absolute queen of tsunderes. This route gets deep into Shirō struggling with his ideals in a way that feels autentic. But Heaven’s Feel? That's the masterpiece. It's dark, depressing and well written, focusing on Shirō's kōhai, Sakura. It completely flips the script on everything you thought you knew.

Now, for the nitty gritty stuff. First off, this VN is hella long, like, it takes a solid month of reading if you're a completionist. It feels like a drag sometimes, so the anime might be a quicker way to experience it. The pacing is surprisingly decent for its length tho. As for gameplay, well, it's a visual novel, you press , you read, you make choices. The art is pretty great for a 2004 game. The character sprites are expressive and all the designs, especially for the Servants, are intricate and iconic. It grows on you like crazy, leaving you with that empty feeling of accomplishment when it's all over. The only nitpick is that during the hype action scenes, sometimes you wish to watch the anime instead of reading text descriptions.

The major bummer I gotta mention about this specific port (again) is that it's completely silent, like, no voice acting at all. It also cuts the CGs, which takes away from the excitement and visual flair. There's also an uncensored patch which I believe this version already includes, so I guess the hentai scenes are in, but with the missing voices and animations, it feels like you're getting a stripped down experience.

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