Fate Hollow Ataraxia Demo
PostPosted:Tue Sep 06, 2005 9:50 pm
So I got the demo of the most anticipated Japanese computer game of the year (which isn't really saying anything to us, of course). Although the first Fate often reads like it's written by a guy with a split-personality, apparently they decided the way to help this was add 2 more writers to the team. I've never heard of throwing more manpower to writing makes the plot better, but we'll see.
Paradox is apparently one of the theme in this sequel to Fate, and I think the game itself is like paradox. During the day you've an overly cutesy interface where you get to run around and interact with Shirou Emiya's harem (or other townfolks of insignificance if you're inclined) living in an apparent paradise where all the girls can get along without trying to kill Shirou Emiya or each other (I think Ataraxia is some kind of paradise-ish place too). In short, the day aspect of this game plays like every stupid dating sim that ever existed.
Then comes the night, when the game reminds you that Fate was a very dark game at times. If there is one thing Typemoon knows how to do, they know how to make a normal streetway look creepy at night. Actually, places where evil demons are summoned or a graveyard look like a happy place to hang out compared to the streets of Fuyuki City. In the demo Shirou Emiya gets ripped to shreds by a raving pack of spirit wolves while Karen, the new girl, prays that Shirou has a good voyage in the afterlife. For a game that was essentially a slideshow, the blood spill effect and how the blood spills into the overhead night-light view of Fuyuki City is eerily beautiful, and I think before he dies Shirou Emiya says that Fuyuki City faces the end of its existence tonight.
All this is very reminiscent of FFX's Zanarkand and the 2 Realiens (Cecily and ?) running around in an imaginery garden that's really a pile of bones in Xenosaga. Since Zanarkand is only the coolest town that ever existed, I'll give the plot the benefit of the doubt and hope that's where this horror plot is going.
So far the day aspect looks like a totally fan service paradise that completely ignores all the continuity of Fate (Rin is the only girl who didn't either die or went insane in all 5 of the Fate's endings so the fact that any other girl is even alive let alone coexisting doesn't make much sense). I'm guessing right now that Karen is Ilya or at least an Einzbern from a parallel universe or something that came back to kill everyone. She certainly covered the role of terror that Ilya used to cover in Fate (no one else besides Ilya can be taken seriously as a source of terror). I hope she can cover the action parts too, since no matter how much people praise Fate's story, it's the battles that define Fate. Failing that, well, the holy trinity of heroes: Saber, Archer, and Lancer are all still around, so there should be no shortage of fights.
Paradox is apparently one of the theme in this sequel to Fate, and I think the game itself is like paradox. During the day you've an overly cutesy interface where you get to run around and interact with Shirou Emiya's harem (or other townfolks of insignificance if you're inclined) living in an apparent paradise where all the girls can get along without trying to kill Shirou Emiya or each other (I think Ataraxia is some kind of paradise-ish place too). In short, the day aspect of this game plays like every stupid dating sim that ever existed.
Then comes the night, when the game reminds you that Fate was a very dark game at times. If there is one thing Typemoon knows how to do, they know how to make a normal streetway look creepy at night. Actually, places where evil demons are summoned or a graveyard look like a happy place to hang out compared to the streets of Fuyuki City. In the demo Shirou Emiya gets ripped to shreds by a raving pack of spirit wolves while Karen, the new girl, prays that Shirou has a good voyage in the afterlife. For a game that was essentially a slideshow, the blood spill effect and how the blood spills into the overhead night-light view of Fuyuki City is eerily beautiful, and I think before he dies Shirou Emiya says that Fuyuki City faces the end of its existence tonight.
All this is very reminiscent of FFX's Zanarkand and the 2 Realiens (Cecily and ?) running around in an imaginery garden that's really a pile of bones in Xenosaga. Since Zanarkand is only the coolest town that ever existed, I'll give the plot the benefit of the doubt and hope that's where this horror plot is going.
So far the day aspect looks like a totally fan service paradise that completely ignores all the continuity of Fate (Rin is the only girl who didn't either die or went insane in all 5 of the Fate's endings so the fact that any other girl is even alive let alone coexisting doesn't make much sense). I'm guessing right now that Karen is Ilya or at least an Einzbern from a parallel universe or something that came back to kill everyone. She certainly covered the role of terror that Ilya used to cover in Fate (no one else besides Ilya can be taken seriously as a source of terror). I hope she can cover the action parts too, since no matter how much people praise Fate's story, it's the battles that define Fate. Failing that, well, the holy trinity of heroes: Saber, Archer, and Lancer are all still around, so there should be no shortage of fights.