Originally released on the Sony Play Station Portable, Fate/Extra is a dungeon crawler RPG with turn based combat and visual novel elements where players take the role of a Master in the Moon Cell Holy Grail War. Players of this game summon one of three servants chosen near the end of the prologue and that choice determines the difficulty of the game.

The Holy Grail War

Before getting into the gameplay and difficulty, the context of the tournament would be good to go over for those who haven’t heard of the series. This franchise, created by Kinoko Nasu, started with Fate/Stay Night in 2004 as an adult visual novel but had a rerelease on the PS2 in 2006. The rerelease was made for a wider audience, removing the adult scenes of the original while adding in voice acting and various other features. In the game, players get introduced to the concepts of the Holy Grail War. In short, seven mages summon seven legendary heroes from myth and legend in order to complete a magical ritual powered by the deaths of said legends in order to obtain the Holy Grail. Each mage only summons one hero, which is distilled into one of seven classes. Those classes are the Saber, Lancer, Archer, Caster, Rider, Berserker, and Assassin.

Mages that summon a hero for this event are known as Masters. Servants are the distilled legend focused into one class. For instance, Heracles (Hercules for those who know him by the Roman version of his name) could fall under a variety of classes such as Archer or Berserker because of his actions and feats in his legend. Mages summoning him for the War would only get him in relation to one class and only one class. The tournament goes until there is one Master and Servant pair left standing.

Story

With initial context of a Holy Grail War out of the way it’s time to cut right into the story of the game. Players take the role of a participant in a strange iteration of the Holy Grail War. More specifically, this War is a week by week elimination tournament that goes until one Master and Servant pair are left standing. Each Master has their opponent decided at the start of a given week and the fight itself takes place at the very end. Masters must also qualify for the fight by searching and finding two keys to enter the battle arena. If a Master does not have the pair of keys, they lose by default.

The player character in all this stumbles into the tournament with absolutely no memory to their name and no idea how they even joined this tournament to begin with. As such, players can expect to work toward survival and uncover the mystery of their character’s identity. Normally I would go into greater detail over story and the introductory phases of the game. However, the prologue and first chapter of the game are incredibly well done in setting the stakes that to go over either of them in any extreme detail would ruin the experience for players. The end of the first chapter alone gave a gut punch that I didn’t see coming and frankly will likely stay with me for years to come.

Gameplay

With that bareboned glance at the story finished, we can now turn our attention to the gameplay. Players have two sections of gameplay to deal with. First, is the school section in which players view events, level up a servant’s stats, and interact with their own servant. This section is often prepping the player for dungeon crawling or gathering information on their opponent at the end of the week. Which leads to the information matrix. While legendary heroes of myth and legend are incredibly powerful, they also have well known weaknesses. For instance, Achilles is famed for his heel that strips him of his invincibility. This leads opposing Masters to hide their Servants true name under all costs as correct identification can lead to an easy loss. As such, players are led to solve a weekly mystery on their opponents in order to prepare for their fight.

Combat

The second section of gameplay is dungeon crawling. This has players go through dungeons in order to find the qualifying keys. This section includes story events, where the player run into their opponent for the week, and general combat where they fight monsters in turn based combat. Which leads into the fourth section, combat. Combat in the game is essentially rock, paper, scissors, but planned ahead. Basically, players can see a limited amount of an opponents actions, in a given round of combat, and try to counter with their own attacks. Attacks out speed a powerful Break, power Breaks crush a Guard, and a Guard defends against a normal Attack. If players succeed in countering an opponents actions three times in a row they deal an extra attack which deals an extra attack of damage.

In addition, Servants can use skills which take the place of an action. These skills vary in cost of Servant MP and can be used consecutively so long as a Servant has MP to cast. Masters can also cast spells or use items in conjunction with their servant using Master MP to cast for the former. However, Masters can only cast or use an item once per round of combat. A fight will go on until either a player’s opponent or the player’s servant runs out of HP. Winning a fight gives both money and exp.

Personal Thoughts

With combat and gameplay finally finished, I wanted to go over my thoughts on the game itself. I originally received this game as a gift for Christmas around the time of it’s original release. Going through the game again, was incredibly nostalgic and reminded me of some good times playing through it. I loved the story and interacting with each servant the player can summon. However, there are issue with the game. First, voice acting is generally not a thing. While interacting with a player’s servant in one one one conversations will have the dialogue voice acted, the most to expect is the occasional grunt or gasp from other characters. Leveling is also an issue. While earning levels is no problem, applying the stats is tedious as players need to return to the school in order to do so.

This is a problem as doing so proceeds the game to the next day in the week which moves a player closer to a game over if the didn’t find everything they needed in the dungeon. Combat for the first few levels is fine but becomes repetitive when trying to grind and I tried to avoid it as much as I could. In addition, the ending and the story itself is fairly linear, with only one or two major differences partway through. Which is unfortunate, but understandable considering the characters at play and the setting. The music for each dungeon varied in tone and pace but ended up blending together and was overall forgettable.

Final Thoughts

Moving onto my final thoughts, this game was very nostalgic for me. It was in many ways, the first visual novel I played, introducing me to the genre and the setting. Despite the issues, both in the ending and the gameplay, I honestly feel as though the initial chapters were probably the best of the game. They set the tone as bleak and serious for the player and the end of the first week leaves them wrecked emotionally. It’s not uplifting or inspiring and I love the writers did that. The characters of the game are memorable, and help to establish the conflicts well. Overall, the game is above average, about a 3.5 out of 5. It’s opening was great. It’s ending made replaying the game tedious.

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Art Work

Art for the game is incredible. The designs are drawn and shaded well. Players can easily look at a character and understand their personality just from their appearance. There are small and intricate details on each character from uniform preferences or just damage on rigging. The variety in the character design is also great. The range of art styles is incredible as there are both uniformed and casual appearances. Although I admit, it is very heavy on fanservice such as the maid core that make up the British fleet or the eclectic style of the Japanese ships. There are even a few crossover characters involved, such as the Hyperdimension Neptunia cast or HoloLive members from Japan. Sadly or perhaps happily for some, fanservice is a major component to the game although there are some thankful limitations.

Account Creation and Binding

Account creation for the game is simple, just download the game play the tutorial and then type in a username. Overall, the process is very simple and can allow players to get into the game quickly and efficiently. Although it should be noted that players should be mindful of the server they use. Unlike other similar games such as SINoALICE, Blue Archive, or Fate/Grand Order, Azur Lane requires players to choose a server rather than using a regional server. This means that accounts for the game are bound to the server. Which means it is possible to play on multiple servers with different accounts on a singular phone. That is an interesting approach and admittedly I was unaware of that until I tried to reacquire the account, I made more than a year ago.

That was a nasty surprise, although thankfully I did in the end recover the account. Binding the account was also simple, people simply must link the account to either their Twitter account, Yostar account, or Facebook account. This will prevent the game data from being permanently deleted if the game is removed from their phone for one reason or another. Account linking as a recovery method is a feature I really like. This is due to having played games with account recovery systems using recovery codes which may or may not work. Almost lost my Fate/Grand Order account because a recovery code did not work, and it was through a meticulous amount of information on my account that saved it.

Story

Moving on from the account creation and binding process, the story of the game is set during an alternative World War 2 where players are a Commander in the navy leading a fleet of ship girl warships. Prior to the commander taking up their post and the current time, a group of hostile ship girls named Sirens emerged and destroyed Humanities ability to control and sail the sea in safety. To counteract this group, the nations of the world banded together to form the titular Azur Lane. Unfortunately, the group fractured when the Commander takes their post and the nations making up the fleets of Germany and Japan strike Pearl Harbor. In short, players need to fight and resolve issues with the nations breaking off from the alliance and defend against a worldwide naval threat.

The story is a unique take on telling a World War 2 story. Although admittedly there are liberties taken with the situation itself. While early in the campaign there were cutscenes with good artwork in the background. There were also banter between characters and a resemblance of a plot which was nice. Unfortunately for chapter four until where I stopped in chapter seven, this stopped completely.  Which was highly disappointing and turned me off towards continuing the campaign. Events on the other hand do have character interaction and plots which make me want to continue them. It is strange to see that as a decision but as a character collector, it is understandable.

Gameplay

Moving forward, gameplay as mentioned above is very responsive and fast-paced. In battles, the player uses a control stick for movement on the left, and abilities on the right. The units a player collects can be placed into formations prior to entering a map. Each formation can have six units split into two parts, called the rearguard and the vanguard. Vanguard units are the frontline ships which includes destroyers, light cruisers, and heavy cruisers and their main method of attack are auto attacks and torpedoes. Rearguard units on the other hand are the flagships, primarily carriers and battleships which bring air support and heavy cannon fire. Abilities for use in battle are torpedoes, air support, and battleship cannons which go on a cooldown upon use.

Progressing the story and events typically involve setting up two fleets and moving them around an in-campaign map. The overall goal is to destroy enemy ships until the opposing flagship appears. Destroy the flagship and the map is completed. The ability to fight is limited both in the health of the units a player uses in a fleet and by the fuel they use to fight. Typically, in games on mobile phones, there is a stamina system in place to limit players play time. For the case of Azur Lane, stamina is oil used to fuel the player’s ships. This fuel replenishes over time and can be collected from the players canteen.

Player Progression and Resources

Speaking of oil and canteens, it would be good to go over the progression of levels and resources for players. So, with fuel acting as stamina, there needs to be a system in place to upgrade ship girls and the fleets. For most enhancements there is cost of gold which can be obtained from waiting every few minutes for the merchant to produce funds or winning fights. Each ship girl can be equipped with rigging such as cannons, or anti-air equipment. That rigging can be enhanced with money and upgrade material. Ship girls also have levels which can be increased in a variety of ways, the most common is through battle. Players also have levels which are increased through fighting in the main campaign and events. Increasing player level allows players to level their refuel stations and treasuries, further increasing the amount of gold and fuel stored and obtained.

In addition to levels, ship girls can also be enhanced by sacrificing other ship girls as parts for permanent stat boosts. Somewhat morbid if thinking on the game in a realistic perspective but there are bound to be plenty of copies as drops given from fights. Speaking of, obtaining ship girls can be done two ways. First, there is obtaining them as a drop from fights. Drops are tied to maps and can give players give rarity ships depending on the map. The second method is from building them on the gacha. As mentioned in my Naruto Online review, the gacha is a gambling device which typically uses premium currency as a method of obtaining characters. For this game, the rates are given and admittedly they are generous rates in comparison to games with rates akin to Fate/Grand Order.

Character acquisition

At any rate, ship girls can be built with two requirements. First, is the gold requirement of 1,500 per ship. Second is the use of two Wisdom Cubes, the currency exclusively for creating ship girls, for every ship. For reference, Wisdom Cubes can be obtain from purchase with premium currency or from completing missions. Up to ten ships can be built at a time with two being worked on simultaneously. Unlike most other gacha games, Azur Lane takes time to build a ship which is a surprise but one that keeps to the theme of the game. Of course, build times can be bypassed with the use of a Quick Finisher item which instantly finishes building a ship per use.

Monetization

Speaking of the gacha, it’s time to go into the monetization. Wisdom Cubes, as stated above, can be obtained using the premium currency, called Gems, for eleven cubes per 300 gems spent. While Gems can be obtained by completing certain side and campaign missions, there is a limit and eventually players will be led to the Gem shop. This shop allows players to purchase Gems for real world money with the lowest amount going for one dollar for sixty Gems. The highest amount from this shop is 4900 Gems for eighty dollars. In addition to Gems, there are packs which give a variety of items in return for actual money or Gems or a weekly free pack. Finally, there is the item section which allows the trade of gems in return for gameplay expansions such as more dock space, quick finishers, more gear space and more.

Pricing for the items is low as far as gems go, with items for important boosts costing 200 and 100 Gems for the Dock expansion and Depot expansion respectively. Meaning players could spend about two or three dollars to increase their storage space which is cheap admittedly. The final Gem sinkhole is the skin shop which is filled with cosmetic items and brings in the fanservice outfits which players can have ship girls’ wear. Pricing for this is much more expensive with the highest price being about 1180 Gems and the lowest being around 600 Gems. That is about twenty dollars for the former and ten dollars for the latter. I don’t fully mind cosmetics costing premium currency, as cosmetics in games do not provide gameplay benefit beyond looking nice. On the other hand, expanding dock space with gems is a problem as docks can fill up very quickly.

Monetization thoughts and Loading Size

As far as Gems go, I tend to spend free gems on expanding the docks just to keep from running out of room and being prevented from finishing or starting a level. Which, while understandable, is annoying to do and can add up in terms of expenses. Granted I am a free to play player, so the expenses portion does not apply. It still provides a temptation though and is arguably where a good amount of money on the game could be made.

That said, there is one issue. First, while modern phones have plentiful amounts of storage space, the game has had numerous downloads totaling over one gigabyte of data on an update. Initial downloads from the store only requite a few megabytes of space which is fine. Opening the game however causes the game to update which can take some time for the initial download. Additionally, the game has voice files that must be downloaded from the settings menu. Same with the Live2d, background music tracks, and Gallery data. Ideally, players are looking at about ten gigabytes of space used for this game alone. For lower end phones from a generation or two ago, this can be a problem.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this game is fun despite the need to purchase dock space with real cash. The artwork is one I like the style of and the music, despite the download issues, is incredible. Wisdom Cubes are plentiful and purchasing them is hardly needed which is part of why I have no issue with the system as is. If I am being honest, the amount of quality for this game is fantastic and sets a high standard for mobile gaming. Out of a score of five this game earns a solid 4 out of five.

The post Azur Lane Review appeared first on My Media Ideas.

Account Creation

Making an account for the game was easy. I simply entered an email and provided a password. Upon creating the account I was taken to a server list from multiple regions of the world. When I joined, there were about 239 servers although that has expanded with several server merges taking place. Some details I noticed on the page was that each server didn’t list the ping level or player count. In fact, there were only six things a player could see about a server. Players could only see servers that are recommended for a player to join, the region of the server, the state or city the server is in, the server’s name, and whether the server is hot or closed.

Player Character Selection

Moving on from the server, upon choosing a server the in-game browser client will then load the game and its assets. These are items such as character files, environments, menus, scripts, and various other images and animations which make up the game. Doing so will then take a player to one of the most important choices of the game. Which of the five character models would be used as their in-game avatar.

Each model came with their own set of abilities which modified gameplay according to the element they use. The elements those characters use are fire, wind, water, and lightning. In the game this modifies the gameplay of the player character significantly. For example, the fire wielder uses damaging abilities with an area of effect that inflict a burn status effect. This means that their player characters will focus on inflicting damage over time effects on multiple enemies.

Compared to the Lightning wielder the gameplay is night and day. The Lightning characters focuses on paralyzing foes and single target damage. This means gameplay for them is focused on taking out high value targets. Each player avatar had variations on their gameplay but overall, each is an equally viable method of play. Players are able to change their avatar but they cannot do so until level 60.

That can be a problem for players that dislike their starting element. Forcing a player to continue playing a style of gameplay they dislike is highly discouraging. It leaves players in a tight spot as by that point their teams revolve around their character choice and abilities and leveled quite far. Meaning that changing avatars can be a potential detriment to the player which is frustrating.

Introductory gameplay

After selecting a character, the game will then officially begin. Starting with a tutorial prompt which leads the player into a conversation with the leader of the village. The player character lives in said village although there was no actual mention of it prior anywhere. The Hokage, village leader’s title, congratulates you on officially becoming a ninja for the village. He then tells you to bring yourself to the registration classroom as it will close soon.

That is a terrible introduction for the player as they are dropped into the game world with no explanation. They are just prompted to click on an objective marker on the right-hand side of the screen with no explanation. The Hokage then gives you stuff for talking to him as your congratulated on becoming a ninja. Why is that a thing in game now? Why not after the player plays through at least final exam day to go over the basics of the game? That would make more narrative sense and allow the player to ease into the game world and setting. It is just strange.

Also, one other issue of note. The translation of the game is not the best. While the game itself can get the general message across there are issues that are noticeable. Such as ninja registration classroom instead of office or desk. One glaring translation issue that I have personally noticed is the use of cultivation every instance where training would apply. While that isn’t noticeable at the start, it does become apparent when the game prompts the player to level up to proceed with the story. When I first started playing, I found it odd. I still went with it to get through the introduction as I was familiar with the setting. I was just more interested in getting past the opening parts of the game. Although, I did have issues with the translation grammar at the time.

Quest Tutorial

Continuing onto the registration “classroom” will start a cutscene after a conversation with the Hokage where he will give you a quest to hunt down his grandson. This just turned out to be an abridged version of the second episode of the Naruto anime. Which is unfortunately how the story elements in the game are going to go as far as overall terms of rehashing the plot. While later updates to the game did add more to the game and cutscenes, the problem is the game is just rehashing the plot just with the avatar around for the story bits.

I can certainly understand considering Naruto is an anime following the title characters journey into becoming Hokage so the decision to go this route with the story is not jarring. It is however lazy, although it can at least allow someone to get an idea of how the story goes for those who wanted to jump ahead in the manga or show but did not want to go through several seasons of straight filler for the latter.

Combat Details

After catching up to the grandson the games first fight goes off. Combat in-game is done in a two dimensional plain with Animated character models in a three-by-three grid on both the enemy and player sides. Characters on the player side are placed into a formation prior to combat starting. Each section of the grid has different stat boosts depending on the tactic equipped whether row by row or column by column to differentiate.

When combat starts Chakra, the combination of physical and spiritual energy, is gathered in units of twenty times the number of turns, maxing out at one hundred units of chakra. Using Chakra, a character can use a special or unique jutsu, or ability whose effect differs depending on the character or ability equipped. For the player character, they can learn new abilities when they level up and equip them prior to starting a combat or story instance.

For the first combat, players start with their player character and Naruto facing off against three kids. Two of which weren’t even introduced in the story of the anime or manga until later on. Regardless, combat starts and one of the first things players will notice is that combat is settled without player input beyond the use of activated abilities. For reference, the abilities at play in this fight are the one the player character can use and Naruto’s shadow clone jutsu which creates a clone of Naruto to fight with and function as another frontline unit.

For my character starting out, I chose the Lightning Element character, I had the Lightning Sealing Slash equipped by default. That ability causes lightning damage and the acupuncture status effect to a target. Turn order is based on a character’s initiative stat and turns progress with the all the player units going first then the enemy all go. This repeats until one side is defeated.

On using a jutsu a cooldown for it starts, meaning a set number of turns need to pass before the ability can be used again. In addition to all this, characters all have auto attacks which inflict conditions onto their opponents which can activate chase skills. Chase skills are one turn attacks which can also inflict a condition which can then be chased by another character. The strategy of combat is through ensuring that your chase skills are activated causing long strings of combos which can obliterate your opponents while trying to keep your units alive long enough to win. It’s actually a really nice aspect to the game that rewards careful attention to team building and formation placement which can let players feel amazing as their plans comes together in a fight. It is a nice dopamine blast which encourages the player to continue with the game longer.

Character Acquisition

Moving on from the story aspect, the is the question of how can characters be acquired? While a handful are given as story rewards, especially in the first few quests and story instances, the grand majority are obtained through the recruit page at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. The page that opens is the dreaded Gacha. For reference, Gacha is a term for the style of character collection games where characters are obtained via rolling the random number generator of the banner. Usually, the player pays a formal currency, in this game’s case this is the seal scroll, in order to spin the wheel and see if they can get lucky.

Unfortunately, this is the part of the game where real world money can be used to purchase more spins on the wheel to give an apt metaphor. Seal scrolls can be obtained a handful of ways. First as a reward for daily check ins, thus furthering a habit of logging onto the game to get stuff. Second, by spending coupons which are also earned for the same and as chapter clear rewards. Third, scrolls can be earned by combining seal scroll fragments, one scroll for every ten fragments. Finally scrolls can be obtained by spending money to buy the game’s premium currency called the ingot.

Pricing for the currency varies depending on the amount a player wishes to purchase with the most, five thousand ingots, being purchased for $99.99. In addition to the 5,000 ingots, players will receive 150 ingots for free. In the in-game shop seal scrolls can be purchased for 125 coupons or ingots per seal. If the player spent the ingots on nothing but seal scrolls, then they can purchase 41 scrolls which can give at least four 10 rolls on the gacha banners. If this is starting to sound like gambling, don’t be worried because it is gambling. Unfortunately, there is no way to see the rates on obtaining characters on the banners, although it will show the player what they can possibly obtain outside of the general pool available for each banner. I never spent money on the game as that amount is painful for a wallet.

Monetization

Speaking of the monetization, it’s terrible. In the shop pricing for products never goes about 125 or 150 for most products. That is fine, players spending coupons and ingots for small gains is vastly preferable to the rebate specials. Rebate specials are found in the Hot Topics Menu which holds all special events.

The above image is arguably the worst of the monetization. The Infinite Tsukuyomi Special Rebate where recharging, paying, for ingots will get you claimable rewards. For three hundred dollars a person can ten crafty ninja boxes, which allow players to get guaranteed unit shards. As a reference, gather enough unit shards and a character can be recruited. For six hundred dollars players can get twenty-five more crafty ninja boxes and fifteen Tsukuyomi Battle Pack 2. Which gives one chosen item in its content list. Next one up gives forty-five crafty ninja shards. In addition the Super Ninja Optional Pack 7 is also given which gives more guaranteed unit shards. The pattern continues for each tier in the special rebate.

While players can feel free to ignore the rebate, the main issue comes from the fact that each character shard that can be obtained from each box is both new and meta defining in competitive play. Meaning that players can pay to win fights. Of course, characters need to be leveled through giving them copious amounts of food items which is capped by the player level but still it is ridiculous.

Monetization cost

Not even going into the money sunk into the rebate as 130,000 ingots is about $26,000. Spending a quarter of $100,000 to obtain meta defining characters as a guarantee instead of going through the gacha. That is a major problem with the game as it encourages spending addictions.

This horrified and disgusted me. Units of five thousand ingots for everyone hundred dollars spent will let players see bars on the screen seem part of the way filled. That will make some want to fill them up as it doesn’t seem so much there. I mean third of the way filled, half or the way filled, more than halfway filled, it does not matter. Some people like completion, it is why some people go hunting achievements in games or try and unlock every ending. They want to see all a game has and unfortunately that can have some real consequences when introduced to something like this.

On top of that, there are players who have issues trying to not spend money. An addiction to shopping and this would set that off something fierce. Gambling addicts would want to roll on the gacha as well which earns more revenue for the company.

Multiplayer

One final note I want to touch on before giving my final thoughts is the multiplayer of the game. For the Arena and the Ranked Battle system. I found the Arena annoying to go through. To give a reference, players build a team of ninja and use them against other players to win prizes and rewards. The arena fights place both teams at the maximum level and has the AI fight it out. In some ways I can appreciate the overall goal of the arena is to give a fair fight. It encourages careful team building and rewards players for it.

For me though, I tended to avoid the arena. I saw some success and some failure. I just didn’t consider the game mode satisfying as people just used meta teams for solid victories. The Ranked Battle game mode is the competitive solo play where players climb ranks to receive rewards. Early on I used to enjoy this game mode as the fights were massive fights which pitted three sets of your ninjas against three sets enemy ninja. It was always interesting to see what combinations of characters can face down an enemy set up and what squads not using a Player character can work.

Unfortunately, the Ranked Battle has some insurmountable challenges with players at endgame content sitting in the top spots.

Final Thoughts

For me, rebate specials like the Tsukuyomi Special Rebate killed my interest in the game. I remember each week there was a guild fight for competitive rewards. In-game currency that was used to power players and guilds up. It felt like a way to rewards cooperation and teamwork and activity, but the monetization kicked in. Matches were one-sided for my guild and the opposing guilds because of the ingots. It is rough being free to play and I am sure it dragged on for the other members as eventually one by one they just stopped playing. I am pretty much the only one left in the guild being somewhat active and honestly, it’s just lonely. The guild chat is dead. The world chat is just the same where the only thing going off are just the system messages. The game feels empty and that is a problem.

Overall, while Naruto Online has it’s positive points, the game just feels too much of a pay to win game for me to enjoy. It just hurts to think about because I spent years playing this game and leveling through content. Eventually I just had enough of trying to long on to a dead guild. I’ll still check on the game. Part of me just wants to have my guild back. The other part just can’t stand seeing the Ingot symbol staring at me when playing the game. I give this game a 2 out of 5.

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