Fate/stay Night the original Visual Novel

by **Anijunkie** Tue Jul 12, 2011 7:00 am

Well, with Van's permission, the first eroge review is out.

Fate/stay Night the original Visual Novel AS-Fate-Stay-Night

From an anonymous reviewer

In case you are wondering, yes, Fate/Stay Night is a Japanese visual novel eroge game (eroge = adult game with erotic content). There’s nudity, and there are scenes of sexual intimacy involved.

And yet, never beyond my wildest expectations, could I imagine that an eroge like Fate/Stay Night would be one of the best video game stories I have ever played, far surpassing that of any Bioware blockbuster RPG.

Plot background: Seven mages compete in a battle in Fuyuki City known as the Holy Grail War. Each mage must summon a Servant, a heroic spirit from the past, present, or future to participate in the War. The seven Servant classes are Lancer, Saber, Rider, Archer, Assassin, Caster, and Berserker. The last mage, or Master, standing at the end of the War with his or her Servant will have one wish granted. The story follows a young man, Emiya Shirou, when he becomes a Master unexpectedly. Along the way, he meets some powerful allies and many more powerful enemies.

Well, anything up to the endless amounts of clicking is the basic gameplay. Other than that, it's a basic electronic picture book with numerous endings to access (in this case, 5 different endings). The eroge parts happen only about once or twice along each route so the graphic stuff is pretty minimal for a 5 day+ VN. You play as Shirou, the self proclaimed hero of justice and to navigate through each route, you will encounter decisions to choose from. In short, it's more of a dating sim than anything, except for the fact that the story is just badass.

So because VNs are played in a completely different way from the average game, there will be a completely different scoring system.

Plot: 10 Just amazing. Navigating the three different routes comes as a huge challenge but the effort put into reading it is definitely worth it.

Artwork/CG: 9.5 Before people start giggling, I am talking about the general art style and quality. In my opinion, this style of animation is my ideal kind which I had hoped to see in more various different types of anime. The eye's aren't overly blown out of proportion, no one looks chibi, and it has a gradual, more mature look. However, that is my biased opinion and I give it a 9.5 because of that.

Voicework: 9 I managed to get my hands on the Realta Nua ISO file (through my own means) so I had a chance to hear some of the voice work that came onto the PS2 version of the VN (and no there are no voice sounds of moans that I know of since the PS2 version cut out the graphic scenes to make it more child friendly, which isn't saying much) I have to say the voice actors really killed in the sense that they practically nailed it in their performance. It slows down the pace of the reader though.

Music: 10 I absolutely love the soundtrack to this VN. From happy joyous tunes to just downright depressing, the songs seriously fit and magnifies all the scenes. Hearing the Emiya soundtrack while reading the chant is just badass.

Enjoyment: 10 Not once did I ever regret starting the VN. Sure it killed off 5+ days of my life but i considered it well worth the time.

Overall: 9.8 Kinoko Nasu can definitely call Fate/stay Night one of his best works. With a riveting plotline and emotional moments that can make even the most hardcore of people tear up, this is what I call, one of the best VN out there. (arguable of course).