F/GO Watch!

ZeroStormZZ wrote:Yeah, I've been taking it super slow because I already got wrecked by the first fight with Pupper's Revenge. This new multi-health bar system is awful, all it manages to do is make it so you lose out on damage when a bar is low because you can't do damage past that bar until next turn.

Yeah, that's been one of the biggest complaints about this new mechanic. Some on the subreddit are spinning it as "oh, now you just have to be more strategic with your use of NP and attacks, instead of NPSPAMNPSPAMNPSPAM", but that's just spin in my book. I see it more as a means of deliberately hampering a player's ability to bring out the best in their party and lock down on enemies. They're forced to pull their punches while a boss is dropping debuffs on their party, buffing themselves, and using auto-crit moves, all with high value hp bars, and only because they'll be doing additional junk damage if they do too much damage. Plus, certain debuffs disappear when they go to their next health bar. If you don't have enough max level servants with high enough ranks in their skills, you're going to be using Command Seals and possibly quartz.

Not going to do anything related to Chapter 1 of EoR until this Friday, as I've got some assignments and group project stuff to work on, in addition to club activities.  But I will comment on some new developments in F/GO.

Like last year, there's going to be another Chaldea Boys mini-event.  Unlike last year, there's actual reason to be excited.

Prototype Arthur.  And he's looking to be pretty damn good.  Here's the schedule for the gacha, starting at March 8th 5pm JST (so in half an hour from this post going up) until the 22nd at 2:59pm JST.

Schedule:
3/8-3/10 Proto Arthur
3/11 Proto Arthur, Waver
3/12 Proto Arthur, Vlad III
3/13 Proto Arthur, Tesla
3/14 Proto Arthur, Arjuna
3/15 Proto Arthur, Karna
3/16 Proto Arthur, Cu Alter
3/17 Proto Arthur, Ozymandias
3/18 Proto Arthur, Enkidu
3/19-3/22 Proto Arthur

There's going to be a Proto Arthur Trial Quest for a free ticket.  In addition, there's going to be event CEs.

5*
"Talk on the Heated Sands" (Gil/Enkidu) - Star attraction 400% up and crit damge 20% up
"Detective Edmond: Spring Travel" - invulnerability pierce and Arts 8% performance up
"As You Wish" (Camelot Knights) - invulnerability (1 turn) and NP gain 25% up
4*
"Cafe Camelot" - Received heals 8% up and debuff resistance 8% up and defense 8% up
"Outrage" - target attract (1 turn) and NP gain 15% up
"Operation Fiona" - gain 10 stars when appearing (once) and Buster 8% performance up
3*
"Quatre Feuilles" - Quick/Arts/Buster 2% performance up and mental debuff success rate 3% up
"Neverland" - star production 4% up and crit damage 4% up and NP damage 4% up
"La Siesta" - heal 50 HP every turn and gain 1% NP every turn and gain 1 star every turn

Logging in from now to the end of the event also nets a free log in bonus that you can turn in for any of the CEs listed.  I'll probably try to get the Gil/Enkidu CE, if the coupon can be used on 5 star CEs.  And considering that I have 61 quartz and three tickets saved up, I'll do a 10 roll and spend what tickets I would have on hand to try and get Proto Arthur.  Just not sure if I'm going to do it when Waver is available, or when Cu Alter is available.  I could use both to be honest, but I'm leaning more towards Cu Alter at the moment, since he's a better Hercules and I could use the high damage ST NP.

In other news, I got Altera after doing a 10 roll in the EMIYA Alter/Saber Alter gacha.  So I'm probably not going to get anything I want.  This could very well be bait gacha anyway; I get the feeling that Jeanne Alter might be around the corner after this is released.  

Edit: Used Prototype Arthur in the ticket Free Quest, and I'm liking what I see so far.  Skills are as follows: 1 turn Buster up for first skill, Instinct (didn't use it, so I don't know how many stars it gives at max rank) for second skill, and a damage boost against huge enemies with a 20% NP up for third skill.  NP is Buster-based, gets an NP Damage up buff on use, and from what I can tell, is AoE that hits three times for each enemy, similar to Mordred's NP.  Don't know if there are any special effects or increased damage to certain types, but from what I saw, he's a solid Saber.  Would've preferred Charisma instead of Instinct for better party synergy, but he seems to be a more burst-DPS oriented version of Mordred, which isn't too bad.  Slap a Kaleidoscope on him and have him build up the last 20% of his NP gauge before going to town.  Seems to be able to build up NP at a decent rate as well, but he'll shine best in a Buster comp with Merlin.

Also, the Chaldea Boys 2017 rate ups give story-locked male servants. So you can potentially get Caster Gilles, Caster Cu, Li Shuwen, Edison, Tristan, Gawain, Bedivere, and EMIYA Alter, as well as Tesla and Cu Alter outside of their rate up days.

Anyway, considering that Proto Arthur plays a lot like Mordred, he's sort of bland. Only roll for him if you really want him. I'm probably only going to use tickets on Waver's rate up and save my quartz, since I get the distinct feeling that Jeanne Alter is going to be immediately after this gacha event, or the one following that.

I really don't get making Arthur's gimmick killing giant enemies and then giving him an AoE NP. Combine that with garbage ass Instinct that they still haven't bothered buffing and I'm not really sure what they were going for. Especially since they could have replaced Instinct with Charisma. One cool thing of note though is that you get to hear Proto Merlin during his Noble Phantasm, she's voiced by Artoria's actress.

Alright, I've held off long enough on posting it, so here's a summary of the Shinjuku Epic of Remnant chapter that I promised.

Story starts off with Mashu at our side (yay!) back at Chaldea. Dr. Roman's gone, so Da Vinci is running things with minimal staff as they try to get everything back in working order in anticipation of all the parties invested in Chaldea's operation coming to give the place a once over. In not too short order, however, alarms sound, and once again, the future of humanity is uncertain, but there's no explanation why. The first new singularity is odd because...well, because it takes place in 1999, which is way beyond the boundary of time that all the other singularities have occurred. In fact, aside from the alternate Fuyuki City in 2004 that was an outcome that never came to pass, it should have been impossible for any singularities to occur after the turn of the 20th Century (there's an explanation for this, but I don't have that info on hand at the moment, so just take my word for it at this time.).

Since Mashu lost her power to use Galahad, thereby no longer making her a demi-Servant, she can't accompany us and can only provide support from Chaldea. So we (and by that I mean the protagonist) are sent in to investigate and resolve this most unusual anomaly. When we arrive, we're quickly dropped from the sky and rescued by a very dapper gentleman who informs us that the city is overrun with biker gang thugs, yakuza, monsters, and odd dolls. A massive fortress is being constructed as well, for god knows what. So we have our source of the singularity. We're then ambushed, with said gentleman helping us through the fight, followed by a figure shrouded in darkness commenting about darkness and pain (obviously, this is Dantes).

Cut to a meeting of the villains, who are all in silhouette, save for EMIYA Alter. There's some plotting, then a reveal that Shakespeare is chained down and being used as a source of energy for something big. Cut back to the protag party, where various traps and tricks are being used to punish the altruistic. Not too long after, we discover the source of the dolls: Phantom of the Opera has been busy creating them, and even has his own "Christine" as company. We're about to fight, but Dapper convinces us to run instead, and that's when we run into a headless rider on a BIIIIIIIG DOGGO. A flashback ensues, with us remembering that Sherlock told us that if we ever met a dapper gentleman with a butterfly motif, we shouldn't trust him. Dapper says that Sherlock can't let old grudges go, and that he's a reformed man. Also, he's the only servant who's around to help, so we have no choice but to rely on him.

Cue Saber Alter riding in on a motorcycle in her casual clothes, grabbing us and ditching Dapper as she speeds off with us. More Dantes edgy talk, then we arrive at Salter's place, where she tries to be an edgy heroine, but fails due to a cute puppers coming out. She says she took the stray in, and while her place is a sty, it's better than nothing. More stuff occurs, Dapper returns, killing a group of baddies that he happened to be with when we were out (Salter is not impressed and doesn't trust him), we get a phone call that we need to help someone in the park, and at said park Jeanne Alter is fighting with EMIYA Alter and sets herself on fire to try and kill him. We manage to save her in time, and get another party member for our trouble (not without being adorably tsundere, though).

More goon attacks, but the hellhound and its rider reappear, then Jalter uses fire and misses him, setting the entire area on fire. Again, we drive it off, and soon Jalter is wearing casual clothes. Also, the dolls are walking bombs, and they're all over the city, so that's not good, but the party finds a way to resolve the issue by hacking another doll to get rid of the other dolls. More stuff happens, Cursed Arm Hassan appears to help, then is revealed to be an entirely different Assassin in disguise that sets goons on us. He then targets the weakest link in the party (the protag), and we black out. Then we wake up in the bad guys' lair, and it's here that we find out the mastermind behind the entire singularity: James Moriarty, Mr. Dapper Guy. Or rather, his evil twin. Protag is dragged to a cell next to Shakespeare, who explains that his essence is being used to create this singularity, as well as fearing Shakespeare (with good reason, as a fictional character would be afraid of being written away by an author). Dantes shows up to rescue us, no longer content with being a shadowy narrator in our dreams, gets us out of the tower and has us meet Holmes, who is his partner to resolve this singularity. Salter and Jalter are also in tow, only cooperating with Dantes because he threatened them with death. Being a target of the bad guys isn't good, but a plan is made to use the protag as bait. A party ensues, with Salter and Jalter trying to impress the protag with who looks more elegant-hot than the other and who's the better dancer. Shinjuku Assassin reappears while the girls are getting into this love triangle thing, more fights happen, and we finally get rid of Phatom and his doll.

Doggo is sicced on us again, and Jalter tries to buy time but seems to die in the attempt. Doggo is eventually defeated in a final attempt, EMIYA Alter appers with a damn army of gun-toting soldiers that we have to deal with (and we also manage to defeat them, driving Emiyalter away), and due to the lack of goons guarding the tower, we storm the place. At the top, we beat Evil Moriarty, but the rumbling occurs, and a Demon Pillar appears seeking vengeance on us. Then Good Moriarty stabs Holmes, reveals that he was playing the long game to get rid of his other self so he could pair with the Demon Pillar and rule the singularity, and gets ready to kill us. Emiyalter also appears, but shoots the Pillar, because even when evil, his job is to destroy threats to humanity, so he's joining us for this fight. Moriarty and the Pillar are beaten, but in its death throes, the pillar warps the singularity to call down a meteor to destroy Shinjuku in a "If I'm going down, I'm taking you all with me" move. Emiyalter and Salter go to deal with the meteor, while Dantes and a not-dead Jalter come to help the protag. Shakespeare is freed by Hans Christian Andersen, and they conjure the spirits of legendary authors Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, and a fourth guy who's not identified, to aid us in laying the smackdown on an evil fictional character. Moriarty tries to use the singularity's grail to counter this, but fails and falls. The meteor is also successfully destroyed before it can hit the city. Everyone fades as the singularity resolves itself, but Jalter says that the protag still owes her a dance. Then we port out.

Back at Chaldea, Mashu is suspicious of why the protag is unusually happy, but Da Vinci sends her off to take care of some work before the questioning gets too intense. Then we get an unexpected surprise through Jalter looking elegant-sexy and dancing with us for a bit. Afterwards, in discussion over the events in the singularity, Sherlock informs us that the demon pillar only summoned the one Moriarty and took control of the singularity. The other one, and the singularity itself, came from somewhere else. He doesn’t know what, but he expects we’ll find out. Also, Sherlock is now on call to assist Da Vinci in managing Chaldea.

So yeah, a good deal of twists, some laughs, and a love triangle that made me smile. We'll find out more about what is causing these new problems in the next chapter.

Phew...done with that. Now onto more recent news:

Guda Guda Honnoji Rerun Event has been confirmed. Takes place from March 15th 7pm JST to March 31st 11:59pm JST (so in a little under two days as of this post). Five hour maintenance prior to this event's release, so get your grinding and dailies done before 2pm JST. Event is a "lite" version like Halloween 2015 and Christmas 2015, so it should be considerably easier to grind for event shop items. Free 4* servant is Oda Nobunaga (Archer). Okita Souji will also have a rate up, alongside Medusa Rider, Benkei, Cu Lancer, EMIYA (Archer), Ushiwakamaru, and Mephisto. There's also an animation update for Nobunaga and Okita.

...I'm going to try and get Okita, but I'm pretty sure I'll fail. And I know that Jalter is going to be right around the corner...

*sigh* ...I really wish I had a job...

I have failed miserably to get Okita so far, and that's after spending close to $50 for two 10 rolls, and using another 30 quartz I had for a third 10 roll, plus around twelve YOLO rolls in total.  FUC K.

My failures aside, here's some new news from the recent Fate Project 2017 stream.

1. GudaGuda sequel, which will take place in mid April.  Features this guy https://i.imgur.com/5XLUYb7.png , who's apparently a Berserker.  No news on whether he's a limited or a welfare servant, but if he is the latter, he'll be the first Berserker free 4 star given from an event.

2. Fate/Extra CCC Collab event.  The scenario is being written by Nasu, and the requirement to participate is to beat the Solomon chapter (chances are that this is a harder event than ones in the past, since they required you to either have cleared the prologue or Orleans).  Features this person  https://i.imgur.com/tmARRbR.jpg  (Don't get excited, they're likely to be a limited and not a welfare servant.  That's what I'm telling myself anyway.).  No date has been given for when this'll drop, so consider it TBA.  Though considering that it's been announced, it's likely to be released in May or June, maybe before the next EoR chapter.

3.  New item in Rare Prism shop.  Personal Training CE is available to purchase with Rare Prisms to "unlock" it to be bought in the Mana Prism shop.

4. 10 free quartz given out to players in celebration for this event. Expect it tomorrow.

Non-FGO news:

There's an F/GO 2nd Anniversary stage play announced.

Fate/Zero BD release.

More info on the Heaven's Feel movie, F/Extra: Last Encore anime (apparently it'll have both male and female protags, possibly with one being Tamamo's master, though this is speculation.), and Apocrypha anime also came out.  Sadly, I can't show the actual second PV for Apocrypha, because the main channel that has it has blocked it from my region, and all the other videos I can find relating to it are either the first PV, or reaction videos.  :/

Final bit of news regarding Epic of Remnant: a recent interview with Nasu and some of the staff from DW has revealed that Nasu wants to have all four episodes of EoR released this year, and to possibly have the first chapter of Season 2 released right at the end of this year/beginning of next year, similar to how the Solomon chapter was released within two weeks of the Babylonia chapter.  This may be difficult due to the possibility of new Halloween and Christmas events (again, I'm speculating, but it's possible they have more plans for those in 2017, not to mention the possibility of rerun events from 2016), but if his plans are carried out, we can likely expect the next chapter to drop by late June/early July at the latest.  Then chapter 3 at late September/early October, and the final one at the end of the year.  This is merely speculation based off circumstantial evidence, so we're probably going to see this confirmed or denied by the end of the second EoR chapter.  Maybe.  

That's all I've got for now.  Time for dinner.

A huge update, if you haven't heard about it already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMx3LY-ZMXs

http://fate-go.us/

At Sakuracon on the 15th, the Aniplex panel announced that Fate/Grand Order is getting a U.S. localization and server.  I honestly thought it would never happen, but apparently Sony and Aniplex think there's enough of a market in the U.S. for F/GO to be profitable.  O.O

Some details regarding this announcement that are confirmed thus far:

1. It will be coming out this Summer, though there's no set date yet.

2. There won't be account transfers from the Japanese server to the U.S. server, so you'll need to create a new account with the U.S. version of the game if you want to play it.  However, this also means that you can have both the JPN and US versions of the game on the same phone without any tricks involved.  They're two completely separate apps.  There shouldn't be any technical issues at all.  :3

3. It won't be starting out exactly like the Japanese version did.  Rolls will be 3 quartz for 1 roll/30 quartz for a 10 roll, servants like Saber Arturia, Gilgamesh, Lancer Cu, Rider Medusa, etc., who have had animation updates will start off with those animation updates, and pricing for purchasing quartz is likely to be adjusted accordingly for the U.S. market (it'll be different, but still using the same payment model).  The app itself will be a newer version than what was available when Chapter 2 (Septem, or Nero's chapter) came out in Japan.  This means that strengthening quests and interludes that weren't available at the release of certain servants are likely to be available in the US version.  The UI changes that have occurred since the JPN version's release will likely be implemented for the US version as well, and it's likely that the US version will have similarly structured dailies, AP bar, and log in bonuses and (hopefully) weekly missions for free quartz.

4. No North American or Japanese exclusive content, such as servants, so the NA version is likely to get all the same servants that have been released and will be released in the Japanese version of the game.  However, Shiokawa (one of the heads at Aniplex at the panel) did state that it plans to run events and campaigns according to each specific region.  For example, there might be a campaign for the anniversary of the release for the NA version, or there might be a campaign or event for American holidays like July 4th.

5. The NA version will have its own in-game support team, and the staff plan to incorporate fan feedback after the game's launch.

6.  Servants will have the exact same abilities as in the JPN version, and the rates for servants will also be the same (rather unfortunate).

7. Due to the U.S. having a different ratings system than Japan, they're prepared to make any changes based on that rating (and likely the rating they want to aim for to reach the biggest possible audience), but they don't want to change anything.  It's likely that there will be minimal changes, and those changes that do occur are only going to be out of necessity.  Most likely this will arise in the dialogue, though changes to a servant's look or sprite shouldn't be ruled out.

8.  There are no plans at this time for a European release (which is kind of nonsense, since you could easily release it in the UK territories).

9. Shielder's name in the NA localization will be Mash (at least at this time.  I really hope they don't do that, and go with Matthew, since 'Mashu' is an Engrish pronunciation of Matthew).

10.  No Pre-registration for the game announced as of yet.  Back when the game was to be released in JPN, there was a pre-registration campaign where those who signed up would get a free 4 star Saber Lily.  Well...then she got released as a welfare servant with Saber Wars, and her stats still stunk.

11. Currently, the game is going to keep its Japanese VAs, but have localized text so players can understand what's going on in the story (much like Extella in that regard).  There are currently no plans for bringing English VAs on board to dub for the game, but it isn't being completely ruled out for the future either.

And now for a bit of speculation.  Some rumors among the reddit page are circulating that it's possible that the US version of the game will be on an accelerated timetable for the release of chapters and some events.  This probably won't apply to holiday-based events (Halloween and Christmas), but events like the Nero Festival, Dantes Break Out, and Da Vinci Fake events are likely to be quickly cycled in ahead of when they came about in the JPN version of the game (if this is true), possibly in the rerun style that made playing through them more intuitive and less grindy.  Of course, the US version may be subject to the same time table that the JPN version went through, meaning that the US version will always be two years behind.  I'm really hoping that's not the case.  >.o  

Another thing to consider: since the same servant roster is going to be shared between the two versions, it's likely that the collab events (Kara no Kyoukai, Fate/Zero, Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya, and the upcoming Fate/Extra CCC) will be run in the US version in one form or another.

So...it actually happened.  There are a large portion of members on the F/GO reddit that are going to play the US version, either as an alt or to entirely replace their JPN version and start fresh (though the latter is a minority).  I myself will be playing both, but I won't consider either one an alt account.  Rather, I'm going to continue playing the JPN version to see what to expect and to play with what I've accumulated in the 16 months I've been playing the game (since it'd be a waste to ditch it after sinking $500+ into my account), but I won't be spending on that account anymore, and I won't be as dedicated to getting strong servants or waifus/cool dudes.  I'll be doing that on the US account (staying F2P as long as possible, unless they do paid quartz guaranteed gachas, which is likely).  Hopefully I'll have better luck on this account.

Ah hell, who am I kidding?  It's an alt account.  But I have better luck on alt accounts anyway.  XD

If that's the case, I might join up, since I'm too lazy to figure out navigating/accessing games in Japanese. Gotta take that shot at getting Lancer (Arturia Alter) after all, though Lancer (Scathach) would be nice too.

Yeah, I was actually away from the internet this weekend because I was at Sakura Con so I got to learn about the localization there. I'm a little surprised, but happy and will make an alt account in the English version just to go through the story. I'll probably only use FP to get servants as well until certain events happen, like Jeanne Alter or Dantes, so it will be fun going on dragon slaying adventures with Kojiro again even if it's in nerfed France.

ZeroStormZZ wrote:Yeah, I was actually away from the internet this weekend because I was at Sakura Con so I got to learn about the localization there. I'm a little surprised, but happy and will make an alt account in the English version just to go through the story. I'll probably only use FP to get servants as well until certain events happen, like Jeanne Alter or Dantes, so it will be fun going on dragon slaying adventures with Kojiro again even if it's in nerfed France.

Agreed.  Additional chances to get Jalter, Okita, and Scathach are appreciated, so I'll be setting aside some quartz I get for when they come around in the English version.

List of confirmed details at this time:

1. The EN version is going to be in both the U.S. and Canada.  

2.  It will be released for iOS and Android phones.  

3.  Currently, content through Chapter 2 is confirmed to be available upon release of the game, so you'll be able to play up to the end of Septem right from the start.  This means that upon completing content up to that point, you'll be able to unlock: [Fuyuki clear servants] Artoria Alter Saber, Caster Cu; [Orleans clear servants] Caster Gilles de Rais; [Septem clear servants] Nero.

4.  I mentioned that Shiokawa said that the various improvements to UI and gameplay are going to be in place, but formally, the EN version will have all quality of life updates that the JPN version has (so the new animations, UI, QP/EXP/Class dailies, the overcharge to AP, daily FP 10 roll, and likely the free quartz for completing Strengthening Quests/Interludes and the weekly missions are going to be there from the start.  Possibly the guaranteed free 4 star roll for new accounts, Saint Graphs for getting NP 5+ copies of a single 5 star, and Rare prisms from burning gold servants as well).  

5.  There are also plans for an event coinciding with the release of F/GO: First Order's release in NA, like there was for its release in Japan.

6.  DelightWorks will be handling development of the localized app, while Aniplex handles publishing and marketing (same as the JPN version).  The game will feature the original Japanese voice cast with English subtitles (no dub, only sub confirmed).

7.  A campaign will be held for the game before release, but it might not be the same as the original campaign held in Japan.

Some miscellaneous changes that have me a little concerned include the following:

During NP animations, NP titles seem to have been removed.

Mashu's confirmed translated name will be Mash.  ( >.<; )

Artoria's name has been romanized as Altria (which makes no sense, as she was called Artoria in Extella).

This doesn't necesarily mean that these changes will stay.  They could be placeholders or temporary things until coordination between Aniplex, DW, Sony, TypeMoon, and the localization team is hammered out.  I'm hoping this is the case, and I'm also hoping that the game, unlike the Chinese version, will be on an accelerated time table (though this is unlikely).  Even if it follows the same time table as the JPN version did, that still means we're likely to have reached Londonium by the end of the year, along with having the Moon Festival, GudaGuda Honnouji, Halloween, and Christmas events; this will give us Orion, Caster Liz, Tamamo, Drake, Nobunaga, Santa Arturia Alter, Jack, Lancer Artoria Alter, and solid servants like Mordred, Tesla, Nursery Rhyme, and David.  Not to mention that we'll have the opportunity to go for Scathach and Okita.  I'll definitely be saving up for Okita's first rate up in the NA version, then I'll hoard until Jalter comes along.

Saber's English name is the most nonsense thing ever. In the anime subs it's Arturia, in Extella it's Artoria and here it's Altria. Like is it really so hard to get a single consistent name going? Artoria is probably the best of them for her.

Also for anyone who is starting with the English version, getting Waver is a priority as he is busted as fuck and will make just about any team you want usable. There won't be a better support servant coming until Merlin, who is very far off.

As an aside, I'd like to take a moment to show off the list of servants who will be available immediately after the NA version is released, just to show how far the game has come in Japan.  This list won't include the story unlockable servants that I mentioned in my previous post.

Shielder: Mashu (3 star)

Saber: (5 star) Arturia Pendragon , Altera; (4 star) Siegfried, D'eon ;(3 star) Caesar, Gilles de Rais.

Archer: (5 star) Gilgamesh (Limited); (4 star) EMIYA, Atalanta; (3 star) Robin Hood, Euryale; (1 star) Arash.

Lancer: (4 star) Liz; (3 star) Cu, Prototype Cu, Romulus; (2 star) Benkei, Leonidas.

Rider: (4 star) Marie Antoinette, St. Martha; (3 star) Medusa, Boudica, Ushiwakamaru, Alexander; (2 star) St. George, Blackbeard.

Caster: (5 star) El-Melloi II; (3 star) Medea, Mephistopheles; (2 star) Hans Christian Andersen, Shakespeare; (1 star) Mozart.

Assassin: (4 star) Stheno, Carmilla; (3 star) Jing Ke; (2 star) Cursed Arm Hassan, Sanson, Phatom of the Opera; (1 star) Kojirou, Mata Hari.

Berserker: (5 star) Kintoki (limited), Vlad the 3rd; (4 star) Hercules, Lancelot, Tamamo Cat; (3 star) Lu Bu, Darius III, Kiyohime; (2 star) Caligula, Eric Bloodaxe; (1 star) Spartacus, Asterios.

Extra: (5 star) Ruler Jeanne D'arc.

That's a total of 57 to start (as compared to the 158 that are/were/going to be available currently in the JPN version), with seven 5 stars, two being limited 5 stars.  Considering that Chapter three likely won't be released until around October (and events where you can get Orion, Caster Liz, and Tamamo soon after), we've got some slim pickings.  But that also means you can potentially get the jump on getting servants that will be really good in the future, like El-Melloi, Hercules, and EMIYA, and get them above NP 1.  Sadly, the rates won't change, so there's still going to be salt.  If you can, I'd recommend rerolling your account so that your first 3 star is either Ushi, Caesar, or Kiyohime.  Those three 3 stars are solid for the following reasons:

Ushi has a strong single target NP, can provide a party attack up buff, has dodge, and can use a skill to increase her NP gain.  She's a solid pick for main DPS with a bit of support for herself and others.  She's pretty cut and dry and utilitarian, making her useful in almost any situation.

Caesar is a solid tank/support with decent attack values.  He has a single target NP that does respectable damage, a party attack up buff, an NP damage up buff for the whole party, a crit damage up that reduces his defense (and after Strengthening, increases his crit star generation), and above average HP for a 3 star.

Kiyohime has a defense up for herself, a defense down debuff that can be used against a single opponent, a Buster up skill, and her NP is one of the best crowd clearing AoE NPs of any 3 star.  Only Robin Hood's NP is better, after dropping a bunch of debuffs on the opposing party to get damage bonuses.  Unfortunately, as a Berserker, she's a glass cannon, so you'll need to manage her carefully.

If they offer the free 4 star for starting accounts, I'd recommend picking up either Hercules, EMIYA, D'eon, Liz, Carmilla, or Tamamo Cat, for the following reasons:

Hercules has possibly the highest damage single target NP for any 4 star, outside of Kuro, Shiki, and Rider Kintoki (both of whom we won't be getting for quite a while).  He also has a self buff attack up, guts (to come back after being KOed once), and a one turn dodge.  Your best bet in this early game is to slap Kaleidoscope on him and support him until he's ready to NP.  He'll either KO or take out at least 40% of any chapter boss's HP bar up to Londonium.

EMIYA will have all his Interludes upon release, which means you can get his Projection skill powered up to provide a buff to his Quick, Arts, and Buster cards, as well as his NP getting a damage increase.  Add to that his skill that increases his crit star generation for a turn, and his NP being an AoE, and you can accumulate a lot of stars for the next turn against mobs with bosses in them.  Pairing him up with Hercules for an early Buster crit build will allow you to railroad mobs and bosses.

D'eon is a strong tank/support, and fits well in Arts teams.  His damage isn't as strong as Artoria Alter or Nero, but that's not his role anyway.  Skill kit has a one turn dodge that also increases his defense, a debuff cleanser that also increases resistance to further debuffs, and a taunt that also restores a good amount of HP.  His NP also has a chance to charm and decrease the attack and defense of all enemies, making him/her a sustainable evasion tank that has a solid support role.

Liz is good for her utility and does decent damage until Lancer Artoria Alter shows up, where at that point you'll desperately want Lalter because she kicks ass and makes Liz look like a chump.  Her skill kit includes a party attack up buff (after her strengthening quest, this gives an additional attack boost to female party members, which is actually quite useful due to the number of female servants in the game), a single target defense down debuff on the enemy, and guts/battle continuation in case she gets KOed once.  Her NP and crit star gain is alright, and her NP is an AoE attack that does respectable damage as well as having a chance of inflicting curse on the enemy party for five turns.  Overall, she's middle of the road as a servant, but she contributes well in a standard team.  You'll most likely just use her to clear mobs in experience dailies after a while.

Carmilla is, even to this date, one of the few 4 star Assassins you can get by rolling (there's only six 4 star assassins in the JPN version of the game at this point, and two of them are welfare event servants.  The other two are Kiritsugu Emiya and Shinjuku Assassin, so the NA version won't see another 4 star Assassin until the Kara no Kyoukai collab hits the NA server, or if she's offered as a special reward).  Her skill kit isn't that strong (mostly it's debuffs), but she's got solid stats, has good crit star generation and decent NP gauge generation, and her NP is a strong single target that deals extra damage to female enemies (of which there are a good amount of as bosses during the chapters that are to be released, as well as later mob enemies in Okeanos and Londonium).  Her NP also heals her for 1000 hp at NP 1, and increases her attack for three turns.  Besides, the only Assassin alternative is...Stheno...

Tamamo Cat has a decent skill set that gives her an attack up, a defense up, and the ability to reduce an enemy's NP gauge.  Her NP is what really sets her apart, as its a mob killer that deals high damage to all enemies, while giving her 1000 HP regen for three turns at NP 1.  The downside to using this NP is that she's stunned for two turns, but considering that she has pretty good NP generation for a Berserker, you're just going to be focused on keeping her around long enough to get full NP gauge, buff up, and go to town, damn the consequences.  If they're still alive afterwards, they'll be heavily damaged, and she'll likely have some damage resistance to keep her alive long enough to come out of stun.

If you do plan on rerolling to get one of the above mentioned (or just to get a favorite from F/SN or another Fate series, or if they just appeal to you due to design), plan accordingly.  There are some servants among what is offered for your first 3 star and your free 4 star that aren't very good, or are only good in specific circumstances.  Saber Gilles, Boudica, and Mephistopheles are pretty bad, as is Marie for her skill kit (even though I like her) while Siegfried and Stheno are EXTREMELY specialized to the point of being useful only in one kind of scenario (Siegfried shines against dragons and enemies with the dragon attribute, and is mediocre for a 4 star otherwise, while Stheno is literally built to only affect male enemies with her skill kit and NP).  As for Berserker Lancelot, his situation is unique: his kit and NP are great, but his NP gain is poor.  If you're able to keep him alive long enough to use his NP with his star gen, you're going to have 100% crit chance next turn for everyone, as well as dealing out a lot of damage that turn anyway (you could also just stick him in a Quick star gen team and go to town, which is even better).  Everyone else that's available for your first 3 star/free 4 star is middle of the road and is fairly good in most situations.

...wasn't expecting to go on this long about this.  O.O

And yeah, ZeroStorm's on point: make it a point to get El-Melloi II (Waver) as soon as possible.  He's one of the best supports in the game (his NP is among the best debuffing NPs, only rivaled by Shuten's, and his kit buffs attack/defense/crit damage and gives NP charge), the other three being Merlin, Nightingale, and Tamamo.  And since Merlin isn't going to be in the NA version for at least a year, while Nightingale isn't coming out until the America chapter, aim to get Tamamo as soon as she comes out.  Her NP is one of the best support NPs in the game (heals the party for 2000 each, gives 20% NP gauge to the entire party, AND reduces skill cooldown by 1 at NP 1, and by 2 at NP 5), and in an Arts team, she's even better than Merlin is (in fact, if you put Merlin against an enemy that debuffs, his usefulness as a support plummets, while Tamamo is still able to directly heal and suck away an enemy's NP gauge with her kit).  Pair her with Waver, and the enemy party can't do shit to you.  Pair those two with Mashu or Jeanne, and you're immortal and poking the enemy to death.  Unless you're up against Drake, in which case Waver, Tamamo, and Merlin will be killed.  XD

DrgnmastrAlex wrote:As an aside, I'd like to take a moment to show off the list of servants who will be available immediately after the NA version is released, just to show how far the game has come in Japan.  This list won't include the story unlockable servants that I mentioned in my previous post.

Shielder: Mashu (3 star)

Saber: (5 star) Arturia Pendragon , Altera; (4 star) Siegfried, D'eon ;(3 star) Caesar, Gilles de Rais.

Archer: (5 star) Gilgamesh (Limited); (4 star) EMIYA, Atalanta; (3 star) Robin Hood, Euryale; (1 star) Arash.

Lancer: (4 star) Liz; (3 star) Cu, Prototype Cu, Romulus; (2 star) Benkei, Leonidas.

Rider: (4 star) Marie Antoinette, St. Martha; (3 star) Medusa, Boudica, Ushiwakamaru, Alexander; (2 star) St. George, Blackbeard.

Caster: (5 star) El-Melloi II; (3 star) Medea, Mephistopheles; (2 star) Hans Christian Andersen, Shakespeare; (1 star) Mozart.

Assassin: (4 star) Stheno, Carmilla; (3 star) Jing Ke; (2 star) Cursed Arm Hassan, Sanson, Phatom of the Opera; (1 star) Kojirou, Mata Hari.

Berserker: (5 star) Kintoki (limited), Vlad the 3rd; (4 star) Hercules, Lancelot, Tamamo Cat; (3 star) Lu Bu, Darius III, Kiyohime; (2 star) Caligula, Eric Bloodaxe; (1 star) Spartacus, Asterios.

Extra: (5 star) Ruler Jeanne D'arc.

Oh jeez, looking at that makes me realize how shitty most of the early servants were. Like unless we are counting Kintoki and Gil who technically wasn't available at launch despite being in the game, Waver is probably the only 5 star worth anything. For 4 stars, Hercules is the best, followed by the other Berserkers. Carmilla is pretty good but not until she gets her upgrade quest, same with Emiya. Cu and Robin Hood are very good 3 stars, Ushi, Medea and Kiyohime are nice as well. 1 and 2 stars beyond Arash and Hans are pretty worthless.

For servants to avoid using, Siegfried is pretty worthless against anyone but Liz and the Lancer Artoria duo who wont be in for a while. Tank servants as a whole like him aren't very good. The kind of exception is Jeanne who is amazing for the launch stuff, but every update will make her more and more worthless, take it from someone who used her throughout the story. And as someone who near maxed out Martha, she is also worthless. Saber Alter at NP1 does more damage than she does at NP4. She won't even get a decent skill until her second skill quest.

If you need a budget Assassin, Kojiro is your dude. Hassan is better if you can get him though. Don't bother with Mata Hari unless you are quite fond of her.

For story locked servants, Saber Alter is fantastic. Nero will be good once she gets her third ability. Gilles is bad.

Also prepare to see Shinji's face and Black Keys a lot.

Jeanne is good for this stage of the game, but by the time Camelot comes around, the power creep really wipes her out. It's sad, because I really like her. And I'd argue that Altera actually has a decent skill kit, considering that she has an attack up and a party-wide NP damage up, so she plays somewhat well in a team. She'll still need her interludes to have extra oomph, though. I will be gunning for Waver as soon as possible.

Now for some news! I hope you guys didn't forget about the CCC collab event during this bombshell, because there's a pre-event campaign announced! Details are as follows:

Nero Bride animation renewal.

Nero Bride NP interlude (Good! Her NP feels a bit limp compared to the likes of Musashi and Okita. Maybe Umu Bride will be the Arts version of the strong ST Saber NP now?).

New Mystic Code. Must have cleared Solomon Chapter to obtain.

My Room will have a new look for the duration of the campaign.

1/2 AP for certain Servants' strengthening quests and interludes.

1/2 AP story quests, till Solomon.

Rate-up gacha for Nero Bride and Gilgamesh.

Non-limited rate-ups for Karna and Tamamo, as well as for Gawain, vanilla Nero, EMIYA, vanilla Liz, Robin Hood, and CuBro. Extra CCC CEs are also back for rate-up, including 2030.

Campaign will take place from 4/19 to 4/30 JST, meaning that it's likely the CCC event itself will start sometime during the first week of May and last until the middle of May. Then we're likely to see the next chapter of EoR at the end of May or beginning of June, by my estimation. Considering that such a time frame would be just over three months from when Shinjuku came out, and DW wants to get all chapters out by the end of the year, I'm fairly confident this will be the case. More info for the collab itself will be available on a stream coming out 4/26 at 7:15pm JST, where they interview some of the voice actors for the CCC servants/character alongside Mafia Kajita (MR. RULE BREAKA!!). More news on EoR chapter 2 and the summer 2017 event will likely be out in mid to late May.

Due to the high level requirement to participate in the CCC event, and that we just had a welfare servant with GudaGuda2, there's a solid argument that we won't be getting BB or any of the Alter Egos as a welfare servant. Event 4 stars are usually given out for newer players to have some added strength from a certain point of view, so throwing a welfare out in an event where only high level/older players can get it would be unfair. That being said, all the collab events have had welfare servants thus far, but that doesn't mean this can't be an exception to that rule. I'm sitting back and watching without raising my expectations on this one; chances are that we're going to have a similar reaction to the one where Ibaraki wasn't offered as a welfare 4 star during the event featuring her. >.<

New info on the CCC Collab event.

Duration: Late April to Early May (So most likely starting soon, maybe even next week.).

Requirement: Clear Solomon  (We already know this).

Targeted Servants will get an advantage during event.  (Most likely an attack bonus)

Event limited welfare Servant: SR BB   (THE DREAM IS REAL!!)

List of targeted Servants:

Saber: Gawain, Nero, Nero Bride

Archer: Emiya, Emiya (Alter), Tristan, Robin Hood, Gilgamesh

Lancer: Vlad III (Extra), Liz, Karna, Li, Cu

Rider: Drake

Caster: Tamamo, Hans, Nursery Rhyme

Berserker: Tamamo Cat, Lu Bu

So, I can use....eight of the above, since they're at or near max level.  Definitely running my Bride; after her new interlude, her NP actually feels great.  Did 135k after some minimal buffs (Altera's NP damage up, and Bride's targetable Attack up on herself, as well as one other buff if I remember correctly).  Nowhere near Okita and Musashi max levels, but now she's a viable Arts-based boss killer.  I'll run her with Tamamo and either Drake or Emiya.  Probably Drake, since she and Bride can profit from Drake's first skill, and Between Tamamo and Bride, there should be enough Arts cards for Tamamo to spam her NP and reduce skill cooldown consistently, as well as heal and build up NP gauge faster.  I'll keep Emiya, vanilla Nero, Liz, Rhyme, and Cu around in case I need to switch out some members of my forward party to respond to different enemy compositions or if I need to employ a different strategy (such as vanilla Nero, Cu, and either Liz or Emiya for a more endurance-based team).

Considering that this is a high level event, and we just got a welfare servant from GudaGuda2, I'm quite surprised that BB is going to be given as a welfare 4 star.  I won't turn it down, though.  I just hope she's a solid servant.  I'm guessing that she'll be a Caster, but we'll see as we get closer to the end of the month.  Still no word on what limited servants are going to be offered, but considering that the voice actress for one of the Sakura Alter Egos is going to be a guest in the upcoming stream on the 24th, it's safe to say that that character will be one of the limiteds offered (I believe it's Meltililith's VA).  We'll probably get all the details this Sunday/Monday.

Used up the eight tickets I had to try and get Gilgamesh, but no luck sadly.  I'm saving my quartz, though.  Got 41 at this time, and I don't want to blow it on anything before Jalter's next rate up, unless it's something I might want as much as Jalter.

For some reason seeing Tristan in that list is really hilarious to me. I have NR, Drake, Tamamo Cat and Liz but none of them are particularly high level besides Drake so this could be a little hard for me.

ZeroStormZZ wrote:Yeah, I was actually away from the internet this weekend because I was at Sakura Con so I got to learn about the localization there. I'm a little surprised, but happy and will make an alt account in the English version just to go through the story. I'll probably only use FP to get servants as well until certain events happen, like Jeanne Alter or Dantes, so it will be fun going on dragon slaying adventures with Kojiro again even if it's in nerfed France.

... I had considered going to the panel, but decided to get some rest so I'd not be in horrible pain for Brannigan.

Info on the CCC collaboration is out.

Duration: May 1st 7pm JST to May 17th 12:59am JST.

Welfare 4 star is BB. And...she's an entirely new class, Moon Cancer. O.O

Participation requires clearing the Solomon chapter, and Lancer Liz and Robin Hood get animation updates.

Another shocker, limited gacha has rate ups for the following: 5 star Meltililith (Alter Ego), 4 star Passionlip (Alter Ego), and 4 star Suzuka Gozen (Saber). Suzuka will NOT be limited!

How to play: Main quests will be unlocked every day. Clear the main quests to unlock new missions. After the fifth chapter, you will be able to unlock new main quests by advancing sequentially. New missions and quests will open up on the 10th of May. To access the new missions and quests, you must have completed the main quests first.

In the main quests and free quests, the "BB Slot" may activate at the start of the battle and apply random effects according to the results of the slots. The event shop CEs will increase the appearance rate of Sakura-type enemies and Sakurachip drops. Event-related servants will increase Sakurachip drops, and varies for each servant. Event gacha CEs will increase the event enemy's rate of appearance.

Details on new classes:

Moon Cancer: Weak against Ruler, strong against Avenger.

Alter Ego: Deal extra damage to Calvary triangle (Rider, Assassin, and Caster), deal reduced damage to Knight triangle (Saber, Archer, and Lancer).

So....that's some big news. BB is going to be our first Avenger-killer, Alter Ego and Moon Cancer are official classes, and Suzuka Gozen not only shows up, but she's going to be part of the standard gacha after this event. Moon Cancer being a class doesn't make much sense, since BB was the only one classified as such lore-wise. Then again, I think that Angra Mainyu was supposed to be the only Avenger class servant, but we saw how that panned out. I guess we'll see what other servants are slated for these two new classes in the future.

Event is pretty great, I absolutely adore the mission based ones and from what I've been seeing the story is legit. This is definitely no joke event like what was originally believed. Oh jeez is this final boss tough though, I still haven't quite managed to clear her. Hopefully we will get a Part 2 gacha later with her.

Considering that none of the Beast class bosses have been offered yet, and that these bosses are among the main antagonists of the game, I think it's unlikely we'll get Kiara as a summonable servant. Which stinks.

But yeah, the event has been pretty great thus far. Beat Kiara (though not without using a quartz for a party revive, since I didn't have three command seals), and I've cleared all but the last 15 missions that will be unlocked 7pm JST. Managed to roll Suzuka Gozen and Passionlip the first day of the event after using 7 tickets and 90 quartz, so I'm satisfied enough to not roll for Meltililith. Got 34 quartz and six tickets saved up now, and I'm going to continue saving unless something catches my eye for EoR chapter 2 or the summer 2017 event. Heard speculation that there may be a swimsuit version of Jeanne Alter, so if that's true, I'm waiting on that.

Jeanne is speculation, but Swimsuit Raikou is confirmed so if you like her you are in luck. And the thing with Kiara is she has sprites for three tiers of ascension like a normal servant unlike Goetia or Tiamat, along with the fact that this event is extra long for some reason. If she does get added I don't know if I'll role for her, but I certainly hope she does.

But in other news the reason I don't know if I want to spend quarts on a potential Kiara is that we have art for two servants in the next Epic of Remnant chapter.


Brown girl definitely seeming like Scheherazade, which I would be very happy with. No clue on the loli though.

Yeah, Scheherazade (?), depending on her skill set and NP, would be something I'd roll for. Chances are that she'll be limited, which will mean I'm out of luck after rolling Passionlip. XD

Honestly I've already got Waver so unless they accidentally release another Merlin tier Caster I will never really need another one. But just like Nito, I adore me some sexy brown girls so I'm gonna roll.

Wow she is enchanting. I could imagine her using stories to put you to sleep and then manipulate you, or enchant you with a story of a slave who found her mistress~

Well, looks like I was wrong about Kiara.  Fuck me.  XD

Her class as a servant is Alter Ego, so that makes three released for this event.  I'm wondering if we're going to see more in the coming months.  Personally, I'm hoping for some of the Tamamo Nine to show up, either as Alter Egos or as one of the nine other classes.  Tamamo Cat revealed that she had the capacity to manifest as an Alter Ego in F/GO during the event, but instead manifested as a Berserker class for some odd reason.  

It's unfortunate that I can't read Japanese text, though.  Some of the members of the F/GO reddit board translated the story for the CCC collab event as it occurred, and after Kiara is defeated for good, she has a line where she mentions something about how she discovered she had the capacity to manifest as an Alter Ego.  So that hint of Kiara being offered as a servant was dropped. Also, the second half of the CCC collab event has a copy of BB, who dubs herself BB/GO, appear and take control of SE.RA.PH. She kidnaps Tamamo, Nero Bride, and Emiya and brainwashes them into sentinels to do her bidding, and you have to fight them and knock them back into their senses before you face BB/GO.

Rolled eight tickets and a quartz 10 roll to try and get her, but no luck.  However, one of my tickets did get me Emiya Alter.  Which is cool, since he's actually a pretty solid ST NP Archer.  Not as good as Kuro in my eyes, but still a solid servant.  There's still more tickets to be gained from playing through the rest of the missions and quests, though, so we'll see if I get lucky.

Aside from that, looking forward to EoR chapter 2 and whether or not Swimsuit Raikou is going to be offered as an event 4 star.  And after all that, we'll have the NA release for F/GO.

@Rainday  Just to let you know, one of the current limited servants being offered is Passionlip, who has the unique ability of compressing data, and can do so to the point of crushing it.  And she does this with whatever interacts with her breasts.  XD  Since Fate/Extra and Extra CCC takes place in a simulated cyberspace where everything is data, you can probably see how this would make her absurdly powerful.  For the sake of what the forum is about, you could potentially make a story where she captures other servants or masters, compresses them into editable data packets, and then alters them, before 'popping' them back out as drones, clones, or brainwashed thralls that have been augmented and altered to be more along her aesthetic.  It's a stretch, but it's a fun idea that someone could run with.

That Passionlip idea is pretty great. In terms of CCC related ideas I've had, I've always had the vague idea that since Alter Egos are made up of parts of goddesses that BB could potentially infect someone like Nero or Tamamo with goddess data to transform them into new Alter Egos under her control.