Fate/Grand Order: Fuyuki/Prologue

The neutral pronoun 'they' will be referred to as the Main Character.

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Plot Summary:

The Main Character (MC) signs up as one of the 48 Masters for Chaldea Security Organisation (Chaldea in short), which serves to fix the singularities to preserve human history and its future. They fall unconscious in the hallway after the simulation and are discovered by Mash Kyrielight, Fou and Professor Lev Lainur, who urges the MC to attend the orientation. As the MC falls asleep during the orientation, they are kicked out by the director Olga-Marie Animusphere, which they are sent to their room where Dr. Romani Archaman is taking his break.

(Mash and Lev before the orientation)

(Olga-Marie giving her speech)

In the middle of their conversation, there is an explosion happened in the central control room, which causes injuries to the other 47 candidates. The MC is worried about Mash so they search for her within the fire and debris, which they discover a badly injured Mash. Seeing that there is no chance to escape or save her, they decide to stay with Mash to the end. However, a miracle happens, causing both of them to successfully Rayshifted to a spatial Singularity known as Singularity F (Fuyuki) in 2004.

(Conversing with Dr.Roman before the explosion happened)

Unlike the Fuyuki we all know from Fate/Stay Night (FSN), this Fuyuki is engulfed by raging fire and swamped by the undead, a place where human beings could no longer inhabit. Along with the MC, there are Mash, who has transformed into a being similar to a Heroic Spirit with a Shield as her sole weapon, and Olga-Marie, who is shocked at the MC's ability to become a Master.

As the MC has no prior knowledge of Magecraft or the Holy Grail War, Olga-Marie and Mash have to explain everything one by one to them. At the same time, they are constantly attacked by undead enemies and the endarkened Servants from the 2004 Holy Grail War. Nonetheless, they are aided by a Caster-class Servant who is none other than our favorite doggo bro Cu Chulainn, the only Servant who is not controlled by this Singularity's ruler.

After various fights against the other Servants, the Chaldea team finally meets with the Big Boss, an alternate version of Saber-class servant Artoria Pendragon, who holds the power of the Holy Grail. Together, Cu and Mash work with the MC to defeat the tyrannical ruler. Before vanishing, Artoria mentions of the term 'Grand Order', to Olga-Marie and Dr. Roman's surprise.

Then, there comes a familiar presence—Professor Lev, in which Olga-Marie is happy to see him being alive from the explosion. However, he is far from the person we encountered in the beginning. Lev quickly shows his true colors by claiming himself as the person behind the incident and disappointed that Dr. Roman is still safe and sound. He also drops another bomb to the Chaldea Team.

Olga-Marie is already dead from the explosion.

The Olga-Marie who has been tagging along is just her remaining conscious after the explosion, which is Rayshifted together with the MC and Mash. She then is thrown to the Chaldeas, exterminating her existence by the Spiritrons of the device.

Then, Lev gives his final warning to the Chaldea team that humanity will be extinguished because humans have failed to maintain it. After he vanishes, the entire city begins to tremble due to the instability of the Singularity. When Mash and the MC believe that they would not make it back, they are successfully transferred back to Chaldea by Dr. Roman.

With all of the injured candidates are placed into cryofreeze due to lack of medical support, Chaldea has no other choice but to allow the MC to carry out the mission of Grand Order, together with Mash as their companion and Servant.

Storytelling & Gameplay:

It is not too bad for an introductory chapter, but it can come out with too many terminologies which took me weeks to digest them completely. I might as well make brief descriptions of the keywords based on my comprehension. I apologize in advance if I missed out on some points.

LAPLACE: A device to monitor and collect information of the past.

CHALDEAS: Not to confused with the organization Chaldea. It is a replica of Earth that contains data on humanity's status and its future and is observed with the aid of SHEBA. It contains a high density of Spiritrons, molecules which can dissolve a living being if it is directly touched.

SHEBA LENS: A mechanism that aids in a more detailed observation of Chaldeas.

FATE: A system that allows the summoning of Heroic Spirits.

RAYSHIFT: Almost similar to time-traveling. It transforms the Master Candidate in the form of Spiritrons and delivers to the designated time and location of the Singularity.

The setting in Fuyuki is a throwback to the Heaven's Feel route of FSN, a setting that is familiar to old Fate series fans. We all have the knowledge of the Holy Grail, the 7 basic Servant Classes, and the relationship between Masters and Servants. It is a gateway for these old Fate fans to see how the FGO timeline works differently than the FSN route, and how Servants acting out their role in these Singularities.

(Fuyuki Map)

Before the story starts, the players are required to experience a round of the game's tutorial so they can understand how the gaming structure and system works. This demo is non-skippable, a pretty fair mechanism to both experienced or inexperienced gamers.

The enemies in this Singularity are mostly made up of knight-class skeletons and dragon tooth warriors with a single-digit level. They are easy to defeat compared to the Level 20 Salter, who has a moderately high ATK if she employs her Mana Burst skill. I forgot whether if I used an Archer or a Berserker to defeat her, but my advice is quickly level up your Archer or Berserker servant to at least a level of 25. Another advice is that beginner players should not play the Free Quest on Heracles if you have your Servants under Level 60. You will get nuked hard if you are not well-prepared because of his Guts skill and the Berserker class' high ATK than other classes (unless you have a Foreigner class servant like Abigail).

This chapter was made into a 74 minutes long animation as the 2016's year-end animation specials. I will make a separate review instead of incorporating it with this one.

(FGO/First Order)

Character:

Main Character (MC)

There is nothing much about the MC. The information we all know from the MC is that they are not from a mage family like the Toshakas, but they are selected from the public who have the aptitude to become a Master. We also do not know how old is the MC, their educational background or their backstory. This is because the players are taking the role of the MC in the story, which the players insert their name (despite Fujimaru Ritsuka is the official name of the MC) and can swap the gender of the avatar freely. There would not be much character development of the MC in the story, which this first-person P.O.V with minimal characterization is to incorporate the players into the story. The purpose of the MC to witness the destruction of worlds, intense battle between Heroic Spirits, the growth of their trusted companions, and the departure of close friends.

Compared to past Type-Moon protagonists who are either gifted with special abilities or trained as a magus since youth, the MC is not any one of them. They are also not destined to save the world by default, having special powers at birth, or prophesized to be a hero. The MC is just a normal human, one of the 48 candidates to save humanity. The explosion in the control room which no other active Masters available for the mission, making them the sole survivor. It is like making a random background character in Harry Potter to be the only chance to defeat Voldemort because the nose-less freak successfully murders all of the Hogwarts students, including the Golden Trio. This is the reason why they are chosen as Chaldea's Final Master. Just like how Da Vinci said: "You've been given a role to fight, not as a hero, but as a human walking a path that was preordained by the stars."

Mash Kyrielight

The second MC of the story, the person whom the MC first encountered in Chaldea. She comes off as friendly to people but can make good snarky comments (especially towards Dr. Roman). Mash's appearance and personality resembles Matou Sakura from FSN, with the purple motif and her admiration towards her Senpai, a.k.a. the MC. She is another Master Candidate who is supposed to carry out the mission of Grand Order until the incident happens that traps her within the control room. Instead of being incinerated along with the flames, she is transferred to Singularity-F and transforms into a being known as a Demi-Servant.

A Demi-Servant is a fusion between a human and a Heroic Spirit in which the host can obtain abilities of the possessor but still maintain their own identity. The Servant Class of Mash's servant form is Shielder, with her weapon as a large crossed shield. This is the first Extra class Servant other than the 7 main class Servant that is introduced in the game. Her Noble Phantasm (NP) is Lord Chaldeas (temporary) due to the Heroic Spirit's true identity remains a mystery. However, Salter's reaction towards the weapon hints on the possibility of the Servant as a Knight of the Roundtable.

I heard some players have a very low opinion on Mash because she is famed for 'cock-blocking' and she does not earn Bond Points normally like the other Servants. However, Mash has saved my life many times in Challenge Quests and she is placed in my Berserker team to ensure they do not die out quickly. She is always my best kouhai.

Olga-Marie Animusphere

The director of Chaldea succeeded in the position of her late father Marisbury Animusphere. She is introduced as a stern person and intolerant towards people who do not take their job seriously. She is the one who kicked the MC out from the orientation, which unintentionally saves their life from the explosion. Despite her unfriendly disposition, she still provides the basic knowledge of the world of magus and the Holy Grail War to the MC.

Although Olga-Marie has a very short-lived appearance compared to the other Chaldea Team members, her characterization placed an impact on the players. During the confrontation of Professor Lev at the almost end of the chapter, her vulnerabilities and insecurities are exposed. She puts all her trust in Lev and she is happy when he is still alive in one piece, but she is wrong about him. As she sees Lev as a Father-figure after the negligence and passing of her father, she is ultimately shocked at this unforeseen betrayal as well as her death. As she disappears into the Chaldeas, she cries of her unfulfilled life and the lack of acknowledgment she receives. She is that tragic character who is immediately killed off before we can know more about her.

Nonetheless, Olga-Marie is considered lucky in other Fate works like the Lord El-Melloi Case Files series, which gives a deeper insight into Olga-Marie's history and her estranged relationship with her father. She is more active in the gag comic 'Learning with Manga: FGO' than the home series.

Dr. Romani Archaman (Dr. Roman)

The head of Chaldea's medical ward, which the players' first impression on him is someone who slacks during his shift and treats his superior, Lev's orders in a casual manner. His real potential comes in after the Control room incident which he is in charge to monitor the status of the Rayshifted Chaldea members and locating any incoming enemies. After witnessing Olga-Marie's apparent death in Fuyuki, he has no other choice but to take in the role of the stand-in Director.

Dr. Roman serves as a joke character in the game, who is constantly being poked by Mash on his silly antics. However, he could be someone important in Chaldea. Despite being the Head Medic, he is one of Lev's target to be blown up within the explosion, and no one questions much on his authority of being the temporary Director in Chaldea. One thing that is clear about Dr. Roman is he works together with the MC to restore the course of humanity. The players would discover more about him in future chapters.

Professor Lev Lainur Flauros

The main antagonist in the chapter and who is behind the scheme of the control room incident. Lev's appearance is akin to a fox, with his pointy nose and sharp teeth. He also has his eyes shut closed and smiling most of the time, a typical trait for anime characters who have a shady personality or extremely scary. Lev has a high position in Chaldea, and Olga-Marie sees him as her pillar to support her as a director. His betrayal is a turning-point in Chaldea, which the mission has gone wrong and has broken the young director's heart.

From Lev's monologue, he mentions that humanity has lost the favor of "their" king. It is still unknown who the 'king' refers to, there could be an answer in the later chapters.

Caster Cu

We are all familiar with his Lancer form from FSN, a wild beast who is thirsty for battle with his famed spear Gae Bolg. The Caster version uses rune magic as his main offensive method, although he opts for a spear as his main weapon. Most Fate or Irish mythology fans would know that Cu is a ladykiller, Caster Cu shows this trait more apparent that his Lancer counterpart, through his perverted comments toward Mash. Most of the time in the Singularity, he plays as a mentor to Mash in her Servant combating skills and guides her to deploy her NP. In other words, he is known as one of Mash's senpais of being a Servant.

Putting Cu Chulainn as the main NPC Servant in this Singularity is an excellent move due to his popularity among FSN fans, and making him a Caster instead of the standard Lancer-class is just like introducing an old character with a new set of character settings. He is the first 3* servant given to the player as one of the rewards for completing the singularity. In my beginning state of playing FGO, he is my main offensive Caster in farming Mats, although I rarely use him now as much as my other offensive Casters.

Artoria Pendragon Alter (Salter)

If you are familiar with FSN's Heaven's Feels route or watched Heaven's Feel: Lost Butterfly movie, you will know how powerful Salter is compared to her original counterpart. Unlike the FSN timeline, this Salter successfully annihilate Fuyuki in this singularity and controls the other Servants of the Holy Grail War. Her presence is not a stranger to veteran Fate fans, but she also acts as an intimidating Boss enemy for new players.

Artoria Pendragon is my favorite Fate character. Her Alter version is that one hell of a cool Alpha woman who portrays the aloof side of King Arthur. Her stats and design in the game make her more popular in the FGO fandom than her original counterpart. I wish she can come to my Chaldea so I can complete the entire Artoria team.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10 Saint Quartz

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Author's Note:

Here goes my first review on Fate/Grand Order. It took me 5 days to finish this piece.

Sorry for the lack of screenshot, I'll try to incorporate more.

I will try to complete my Orleans review before the Salem Chapter comes out.

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