Fate stay night visual novel walkthrough. Fate: Stay Night on PC (2004). As an independent work and film adaptation

Description

You can download Fate/stay night via torrent here, it is a fantastic game that takes place in modern Japan. The game is one of the most popular and most famous visual novels ever created in the Land of Cherry Blossoms. The Type-Moon studio, specializing in adventure production, is responsible for its creation. Fate/stay night was the third installment of the developer's career and her first major commercial success, resulting in numerous spin-off projects as well as books, comics, serial and corporate adaptations.

Fate/stay night stay can be classified as an urban fantasy. It is set in modern times, mainly in the fictional Japanese city of Fuyuki. The script draws ideas from Celtic, Greek, Japanese, Persian mythology, etc., which are combined in an original way, giving players a vision of a world inhabited by magicians. The main character of the title is a student high school Shiro Emiya, who accidentally becomes one of the participants in a particular magic tournament. In fact, this is a ceremony to create the grail, a powerful artifact that can satisfy all wishes. This traditionally happens every few years in the city of Fuyuki, and its initiators are three powerful families of magicians. All participants must recruit a magical servant belonging to one of seven classes, who is a hero from myths or legends around the world. The assistant must then eliminate competition to gain the right to use the artifact. During Shiro's rivalry, he gains allies, dangerous enemies, knowledge of his past and future, as well as the secrets and nature of the grail.

Fate/stay night is a typical visual novel where gamers spend most of their time reading script scripts enriched with music, illustrations, animation and recorded dialogue. At critical moments in the action, we are asked to make a decision for the hero, which will result in one of many paths being chosen, leading to for different purposes. The game consists of three separate parts, entitled Fate / stay night, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel, depicting three alternative versions of the same story. The complete indifference of the text contained in them corresponds to several hundred pages, and if we add to that The authors have put several dozen different purposes into the title, we can be sure that it will provide entertainment for long hours. Another attraction is the encyclopedia of the world of fate, which includes, among other things, profiles of the heroes, as well as a gallery of graphics.

Type-Moon was founded in 2000 by illustrator Takeshi Takauchi and screenwriter Kinoko Nasu. Their first project was the light novel Kara no Kyoukai, published back in 1998. The novella turned out to be dark, philosophical and difficult for the average reader to understand, which is why sales were low. But Type-Moon got noticed and they got money.

Subsequently, the two friends decide to move up a level and write their first visual novel, Tsukihime (2000). The visual novel turned out to be as dark and philosophical as KnK, but on the plus side there were elements of comedy and hentai. The visual novel received fairly high praise in the press, and three years later it was filmed as a TV series.

Thanks to Tsukihime Type-Moon they earned more more money and threw all their energy into creating their Opus Magnum - Fate/stay night (2004). The experience gained from past projects was not in vain. FSN had everything at once. Philosophy, darkness, comedy, as well as a huge, well-developed universe, with its own laws and history. The success was phenomenal. The sales record was broken on the first day. Type-Moon resurfaced and created a franchise, releasing sequels, prequels and spin-offs. Since then, three anime series and one film have been released in the universe, which is essentially a brief retelling of the events of the second route. In 2017 they promise to release a series based on the PSP game Fate/EXTRA and a film based on the third route of the original novel.

The plot of all works takes place in the same universe, which fans nicknamed “Nasuverse” in honor of the main screenwriter of Type-Moon. The world of Nasuverse is very similar to ours, but with one difference - it contains magic and enchantment, carefully hidden from ordinary people. Some characters from various short stories are interrelated with each other.

High school student Emiya Shiro becomes an unwitting participant in the so-called “Holy Grail War”, which takes place from time to time in the Japanese city of Fuyuki. This is the struggle of seven magicians for the possession of a legendary artifact - the Holy Grail, which will fulfill any desire of the winner and, thus, change his fate.

Every mage, from the moment he begins to participate in the war, summons a servant - one of the great heroic souls of the past or future - to fight on the side of his master. The battle is fought until only one pair of master and servant remains. Emiya Shiro, against her own will, summons a swordswoman who has set herself the goal of getting to the Grail by any means. However, he does not want to participate in the battle. Emiya begins to be helped by Rin Tohsaka, a powerful magician who studies at the same school as Shiro. But the rules of the Holy Grail War indicate that sooner or later they will have to fight each other, and the most likely outcome for the loser is death.

Characters

Shiro Emiya (Japanese: 衛宮士郎 Emiya Shiro:)

A second year student at Fuyuki City High School. Lost his parents in the last Grail War that took place in the city 10 years ago. His adoptive father, Emiya Kiritsugu, was a magician and participated in the war as a master. He became a role model for young Shiro, as he strived to help all people using his abilities. At the same time, Kiritsugu did not dare to teach Shiro any spells, with the exception of a single technique. After the death of her father, Fujimura Taiga, the granddaughter of an old friend of Kiritsugu and a teacher at school, began to look after Shiro. Having become a participant in the next war for the Holy Grail, Emiya does not want to fight with anyone, but learns that the catastrophe that orphaned him is a consequence of the War. If the artifact falls into the hands of a madman, the disaster may repeat itself.

Fate: Accepted Saber's disappearance and continued to live quiet life. In Realta Nua's true ending, he lived his life as a hero and after his death met Saber again in Avalon.
Unlimited Blade Works: Good ending - began to live with Rin and Saber. True ending - leaves with Rin for London.
Heaven's Feel: Normal ending - sacrificed himself to destroy the Grail. True ending - received a new body and began to live with Sakura and Rider.

Rin Tohsaka (Japanese: 遠坂凛 To:saka Rin)

A girl from Shiro's parallel class. A representative of the hereditary dynasty of magicians, the founders of the Grail War. Rin is determined to participate in the war and prepares to summon Saber, but by mistake (in reality this is not a mistake, as stated in the Unlimited Blade Works thread) she summons Archer instead, which confuses all her plans. At first, having met Shiro, she sees him as an enemy, but over time she becomes his reliable ally and friend. Sakura's sister.

Unlimited Blade Works: Good ending - began to live with Shiro and Saber. True ending - leaves with Shiro for London.
Heaven's Feel: Normal ending - started a family and stayed in Fuyuki. True ending - went to the Association. Later visits Shiro, Sakura and Rider.

Sakura Mato (Japanese: 間桐桜 Mato: Sakura)

Shiro's close friend, who had been taking care of him for the last year and a half before the events described, was originally assigned to Shiro by her grandfather as an observer. Representatives of the Makiri dynasty (now called Mato) were strong magicians, but over time their family lost the ability to perform magic, that is, Sakura’s magical skills were suppressed. She loves Shiro very much, but is afraid to admit it to him. Sakura was the victim of cruel magical experiments by her grandfather, Zouken Matou. Because of them, she became the container for Angra Mainyu, a servant of the Grail and a member of the eighth class who could not be summoned normally. Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou are sisters from the Tohsaka clan, separated in childhood. Sakura is the youngest. In order to save the eldest daughter and maintain friendly relations with the Matou family, the girls' father and mother gave Sakura to be raised by Zouken. The Matou family gains their power by controlling the worms and allowing them to live in their body.

Fate: Continued to live a quiet life.
Heaven's Feel: Normal ending - moved into Shiro's house and waited for him until his death. True ending - lived happily with Shiro and Rider, but she is still connected with Akasei and has a huge supply of magical energy.

Illiyasviel von Einzbern (Illya) (Japanese: イリヤスフィール・フォン・アインツベルン Iriyasufi:ru von Einzuberun)

A little girl participating in the war on behalf of the Einzbern family, whose representatives were one of the initiators of the Grail Wars. At the beginning of the series, he lives in the forest castle of Einzbern, where family members stay during wars. A very powerful magician. Illya managed to summon Berserker - the most physically powerful servant - and easily control him, converting her magical powers into energy for her servant. A homunculus, destined to serve as a vessel for part of the Grail at the end of the War and, as a result, die. Likes to pester Shiro and call him "brother". First appears as main opponent Shiro and Rin. Daughter of Emiya Kiritsugu, Shiro's adoptive father. Initially, she had an ambivalent attitude towards Shiro: on the one hand, she envies the boy for whom her father abandoned her, but she believes that if Kiritsugu found something in him, then there must be something. She is actually eighteen years old. After the death of Berserker, he remains with Shiro.

Fate: Moved to Fuyuki and lived a normal life, but her lifespan will not exceed a year.
Unlimited Blade Works: Killed by Gilgamesh.
Heaven's Feel: The normal ending is unknown. The true ending is that she sacrificed herself for Shiro, revealing to him the truth about her birth before disappearing.

Shinji Mato (Japanese: 間桐慎二 Mato: Shinji)

Member of the Matou family, Rider's temporary master, Sakura's half-brother. Since childhood, he dreams of becoming a strong magician. From the moment Sakura became a member of the Matou family, Shinji tried his best to support her. On her birthday, he overheard a conversation between his family and Sakura, which stated that Sakura should become their representative in the Holy Grail War. Shinji decided that Sakura had been mocking him all this time. Since then they have been in a very tense relationship. Shinji often hits Sakura for some small thing. He tries to surpass Shiro Emiya, but fails. He entered into a false contract with Ryder, which he does not provide with mana and treats it as a thing. Later, when Sakura made a contract with Rider, she saved Shinji in his battle with Shiro.

Fate: Killed by Illya after being defeated.
Unlimited Blade Works: Survived and was able to establish a relationship with Sakura.
Heaven's Feel: Brutally killed by Sakura.

Soichiro Kuzuki (Japanese: 葛木宗一郎 Kuzuki Soichiro)

A teacher who teaches at the same school that Shiro and the others attend. His servant is Caster. He is cold-blooded, ruthless, and fights his opponents dispassionately.

Killed in all arcs.

Kirei Kotomine (Japanese: 言峰綺礼 Kotomine: Kirei)

Priest of the Fuyuki Church, mentor of Tosaka Rin. Observer of the Fifth War, participated in the Fourth War, in which Gilgamesh was his servant. It was he who was to blame for the fire ten years ago, from which only Shirou Emiya escaped. Having killed Master Lancer, he himself became his master.

Fate: Killed by Shirou during the Grail Summoning.
Unlimited Blade Works: Killed by Lancer.
Heaven's Feel: After the battle with Shiro at the Grail, he dies after his black heart is stopped by Dark Sakura.

Each servant belongs to one of seven classes:
Swordsman – “Saber”;
Archer - "Archer";
Spearman – “Lancer”;
Rider – “Rider”;
Warrior – “Berserker”;
Killer – “Assassin”;
Caster - "Caster".
There are also non-standard Servant classes:

Defender - "Shielder".
The ruler is "Ruler".

The class of a servant is given in accordance with his “noble phantasms” - distinctive features the hero, important reasons for his fame (the Gorgon Medusa, for example, is able to turn people to stone, although not literally). Each servant is interested in obtaining the Grail no less than the master, since the fulfillment of a desire awaits everyone. Each master has a pattern from three parts on the arm, reminiscent of a tattoo (the pattern depends on the personality of the artist). These are command spells. They allow you to overcome the limitations of servants: with their help, you can give orders that contradict the intentions of the servants, even suicide, or their physical capabilities. The command spell can be used three times - until the last part of the pattern disappears, in which case the person ceases to be a master. He can sign a new contract, but usually this does not happen.

Saber (Japanese: セイバー Seiba:)

Shiro's servant. He considers obtaining the Grail his main goal and duty. She seems cold-blooded and selfish, although she also has human feelings, which she carefully hides. She was summoned by Emiya Kiritsugu in the last, fourth war, but lost the last duel. Real name: Arturia Pendragon, King Arthur. Saber believes that another person, less soulless and callous than herself, is worthy of the title of King of England. Participates in the War for this purpose. Considered to be the strongest servant. Rin Tohsaka wanted to summon her, but Shiro Emiya accidentally did it by mistake.

Fate: Destroys the Grail and disappears.
Unlimited Blade Works: Good ending - continues to live as Rin's servant. True ending - destroys the Grail and disappears.
Heaven's Feel: Killed by Shadow in the middle of the War, later turned into Saber-Alter and finally destroyed by Shiro and Rider.

Archer (Japanese: アーチャー A:cha:)

Servant of Tohsaka Rin. Claims that he does not remember his real name. In Unlimited Blade Works, he is revealed to be Emiya Shiro from a possible future.

Fate: Dies at the Hands of Berserker after killing him 5 times.
Unlimited Blade Works: Disappears in the ending after asking Rin to take care of herself.
Heaven's Feel: He was mortally wounded by a shadow while protecting Rin. Later he asked for his arm to be transplanted into Shiro, after which he disappeared.

Lancer (Japanese: ランサー Ransa:)

The first opponent of Archer and Saber, the first servant Shiro encountered. Appreciates beautiful fights, participates in war only for his own entertainment. He lost his master on the fourth day of the War and became a servant of Kotomine Kirei, a priest of the local Fuyuki church. Lancer's true name is Cuchulainn, a hero of Celtic myths.

Fate: Died at the hands of Gilgamesh near the end of the story.
Unlimited Blade Works: Committed suicide on Kirei's orders, but managed to kill him too, protecting Tohsaka Rin.
Heaven's Feel: Killed by the Shadow early in the War, then devoured by the True Assassin.

Rider (Japanese: ライダー Raida:)

A servant summoned by Sakura Matou, but placed under the control of her brother, Shinji Matou. Rider is secretive, taciturn and cautious, hates her temporary master, but has sympathy for Sakura and tries to help her whenever possible. Since Shinji Mato is not a magician, he is not able to supply Rider with energy and support her in battle, and her characteristics themselves are reduced, so she has to attack people, absorbing the energy of their souls. Real name: Gorgon Medusa. Rider is able to control her eyes, paralyzing all living things within sight, but wears a blindfold as a precaution.

Fate: Died in a fight with Saber.
Unlimited Blade Works: Killed by Soichiro early in the War.
Heaven's Feel: Attacked people and was defeated by Saber, later saved Shiro from the True Assassin. When Shinji kidnapped Sakura, it was revealed that it was Sakura who summoned Rider and created the “Book of Command Spells” for Shinji. She cares about Sakura very much, but goes against She is protected by Shiro at the last conscious request of Sakura. On the last day of the War, together with Shiro she fights with Saber-Alter and wins, in the true ending she lives calmly with Sakura and Shiro, but in the normal ending her fate remains unknown.

Berserker (Japanese: バーサーカーBa:sa:ka:)

Servant of Elijah. Real name: Hercules, famous hero of Greek mythology. His colossal physical strength and endurance are supported by the Heavenly Phantasm "Hand of God", which gives Berserker an additional 12 lives - one for each feat he has accomplished during his life. This Phantasm also gives the servant protection from any low- and medium-rank damage and immunity to weak magic. Servants of the "berserker" class are usually wild and uncontrollable, but Hercules unquestioningly obeys his little mistress and obeys her in everything.

Fate: Killed by Saber and Shiro.
Unlimited Blade Works: Killed by Gilgamesh while protecting Illya.
Heaven's Feel: Defeated by Shadow and Saber-Alter, turned into a dark Berserker and defeated by Shiro with the help of his own True Phantasm (Nine Lives: The Shooting Hundred Heads).

Caster (Japanese: キャスターKyasuta:)

The servant who tricked his master into wasting all his command spells and killed him. Without calculating, she was left with virtually no energy and on the verge of extinction. Found by Kuzuki Soichiro (the teacher of the Fuyuki school where Shiro studies) and became his servant. In love with Kuzuki. Real name is Medea.

Fate: Killed by Gilgamesh while attacking Shiro's house and demanding Saber become her servant.
Unlimited Blade Works: The main antagonist of the arc, managed to take control of several servants at once (Assassin, Archer, Saber). But she was betrayed by Archer and died protecting Soichiro.
Heaven's Feel: Killed by Saber at the beginning of the War, but resurrected by Zouken as a puppet. Defeated by Saber and Archer.

Assassin (Japanese: アサシン Asasin)

Sasaki Kojiro. He was summoned not by a human magician, like other servants, but by Caster. Because of this, he is limited in movement and limited in combat abilities. He does not occupy the position of a Servant in war and serves solely as a gatekeeper guarding the entrance to the Ryudoji Temple.

Fate: Defended the gate to the temple. During Sakura's liberation from Caster, Saber was defeated.
Unlimited Blade Works: Defended the Temple Gate to the end, defeated by Saber.
Heaven's Feel: A mysterious ritual was performed on him, and a True Assassin escaped from him, who later devoured his body to restore his personality.

Gilgamesh (Japanese: ギルガメッシュ Girugameshu)

A cursed servant from the last (fourth) Holy Grail War, Archer class. Two-thirds god and one-third man, the ruler of ancient Uruk. Arrogant and mysterious, his desire is to obtain the Saber. At the end of the last War, he was partially exposed to the influence of Angra Mainyu, which made his body material. Gilgamesh is the strongest participant in the Holy Grail War.

Fate: Defeated by Saber with the help of Avalon.
Unlimited Blade Works: One of the main antagonists of the arc, planned to bring Angra Manya into this world. Shiro is defeated.
Heaven's Feel: Devoured by Sakura when he tried to attack her.

"Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works" is an anime adaptation from the ufotable studio, created based on the visual novel Fate/Stay Night and covering only the plot of the second route (story development) called Unlimited Blade Works. Moreover, Fate/Stay Night is part of the Nasuverse of the universe that unites all the works of the Type-Moon studio, namely Tsukihime and Kara No Kyoukai.

Telegraph

What is Fate/Stay Night

Fate/Stay Night (or F/SN for short) is an eroge visual novel from Japanese developer Type-Moon, which was founded by screenwriter Kinoko Nasu and illustrator Taxi Takeuchi in 2000, not counting Takashi and Kinoko's first collaboration in 1998 Kara no Kyoukai, which they re-released in 2004, but we won’t talk about it separately, like the rest of the anime adaptations of short stories by the Type-Moon studio. F/SN is part of the Nasuverse - a universe that unites all the works of the Type-Moon company, and talks about a certain ritual, at the end of which one of its participants will be able to fulfill their wish.

The plot of Fate/Stay Night tells the story of the Holy Grail War, which occurs every sixty years in the Japanese city of Fuyuki. Only seven magicians and seven servants always participate in the war itself, for the reason that only a servant, a hero of the past or future, summoned by the magician, can touch the grail. And the war will go on until there is only one pair of magician and servant left. Shirou Emiya becomes a participant in the fifth grail war, which for unknown reasons began ten years after the end of the previous one.

In the novel itself there are three alternative plot developments, or, more simply put, three routes: Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, Heaven's Feel. And as the plot develops alternatively, there is also a focus on the main character’s relationship with one of the heroines, of which there are three, and one of the routes is devoted to the relationship with each of them. But in addition to developing relationships with one of the heroines, each of the three routes is aimed at revealing the image of Shirou Emiya and his views on what is happening from different points of view, after which all the images come together, forming the final image of the main character.

In Fate, he adheres to the ideals of protecting others and being a kind of "defender of justice". In Unlimited Blade Works, he begins to realize that his ideals and the concept of "defender of justice" do not fully correspond real world. In Heaven's Feel we see how his ideals are destroyed.

Fate/Stay Night in the history of the Nasuverse

The Holy Grail War itself began when one of the strongest families of magicians lost knowledge of the third true magic of the Nasuverse, which actually granted immortality, and in order to achieve a similar effect, the concept of the grail was developed. But to implement the concept itself, the forces of two more families were required, with the help of which the summoning of servants and command spells were developed. And in fact, the war was a complex ritual that only required the defeat of all seven servants, but each family pursued its own goals, after which the ritual turned into a bloody massacre, where killing the masters became the fastest way to obtain the grail.

About Servants and Command Spells

Servants are divided into seven classes and each of them is unique in its own way, just like the servants themselves. Servants are souls of the past or future, glorified by their deeds, since the concept of time does not exist in the abode of heroic souls. Also, each servant has the so-called “Heavenly Phantasm”, which in its own way is the embodiment of the hero’s secret, for he owned it during his lifetime, and with it he earned a name for himself. The phantasm itself can appear either in the form of a weapon or a thing, magic, ability, gift, or curse of the hero himself. Celestial Phantasms are the servants' trump card, allowing them to tilt the tide of battle in their favor.

Saber- Servants that during life were renowned for their swordsmanship skills, which is why they are considered to be swordsmen, usually considered the best class with the highest stats, is one of the three knightly servant classes along with Archer and Lancer.
Archer- servants who specialize in ranged combat, in most cases during their lifetime they were famous archers, but there were exceptions who used shells instead of bows and arrows, the only class of servants who can independently maintain their spiritual head start and are in human world about two or three days, even without a master.

Lancer- like sabers, they specialize in close combat, but unlike sabers, they prefer swords and blades, they use spears, pikes and similar weapons.

Rider- a class that focuses on the speed and power of riding phantasms, which can range from an ordinary horse to some kind of supernatural chariot.

Assassin- a class whose specialization is stealth, which can allow them to remain unnoticed, but because of this they have little combat skills, as a result of which their targets are most often masters, not servants.

Custer- a class that can be called magicians, since they have quite a lot of experience in the magical arts.

Berserker- a class of servants that for some reason fell into madness, the most uncontrollable class of all, and can still strengthen themselves through madness, which increases combat power. But the servant himself becomes even more difficult to control, which can lead to the murder of his own master

Command spells are given to magicians as a sign of a master, they appear in the form of three marks located side by side, usually they are on the hand, but there are exceptions. The command spells themselves exist as three absolute orders that can force a servant to do anything, even against his will. But, having exhausted all three spells, the master thereby destroys the contract with his servant, after which the servant disappears, and the magician will not be able to call himself a master and will have to leave the war. But the magician has one way to return to the war, this is to conclude a contract with one of the remaining servants who remained after breaking the contract with the master.

Briefly about previous film adaptations

Still, the film adaptation of F/SN: Unlimited Blade Works from Ufotable is not the first; there were two more from another studio, which were very problematic in terms of adaptation, but they are worth writing about briefly. F/SN 2006 from studio Deen was supposed to be a film adaptation of the first route, which focuses on the relationship between Shiro and Saber, and the decision to film the first route was, in principle, correct, the first route was most suitable for introducing the viewer into the world of F/ S.N. But the problem with Deen's series was twofold. The first is that the series began to stretch out with scenes of gatherings with the main character, cooking, shared dinners, Shiro’s exercises in the art of wielding a sword, the same thing happened in the novel, but there it was clear how the time balance was maintained between gatherings, training and plot events, while in the film adaptation of Deen there were too many of these gatherings in the first half. And the second problem was that the studio suddenly decided to add plot points from other routes, which were absolutely unnecessary, since they did not add anything new to the story and in the end they only asked questions to which there was neither an answer nor a pathetic hint. There was also a full-length film from the Deen studio, which was F/SN: Unlimited Blade Works in 2010, the problem of which was the short running time, because if Fate 2006 as an independent work looked pretty good (especially for a person who is not familiar with the original novel), then the full-length film F/SN: UBW of 2010, as an independent work, is perceived absolutely nothing like that. Because for the events of any of the routes, one and a half or two hours is too short, and because of this, explanations of the very essence of the war and the motivation of individual characters are lost, after which the viewer who is not familiar with the original will be left with a lot of questions. As one could understand from what was written above, the previous two film adaptations from Deen were very contradictory; if the first film adaptation was spoiled by the unexpected insertion of plot points from other routes (although for a person not familiar with the original, it may seem quite good), then the second film adaptation was spoiled by a short timing.

Plot problems

The plot of this film adaptation is not bad at all, even good, and as an adaptation of one of the novel’s routes, it is perhaps the best. But no matter how good the plot is, this does not negate some problems, some of which also apply to the novella itself. Of all the disadvantages that can be counted, they are: the stretchiness of the second second half; naive main character, who leveled up too quickly for the final battle; one of the characters doesn’t even understand what he’s doing in the holy grail war; UBW and all other two routes cannot be counted as a continuation of Fate/Zero.

Perhaps one of the main and few problems of the series is the length of the second half. For the most part, the series was drawn out with dialogues that should not be very long, of course, the drawn-out dialogues do not make you sleepy, because they are also diluted with a portion of good action, but look, for example, at how half of the second season “Saber, Rin, Shiro and Archer are discussing how Archer came to the point of becoming a servant, how this changed not only his ideals, but also himself, is a rather dubious matter.
But it’s simply impossible not to note the second point, since this is the main problem of both the series and the novel. Shirou Emiya is an overly naive character, and his naivety comes from his ideals of “becoming a defender of justice” and helping almost everyone, which is why he goes where he can even die, here, of course, an analogy can be drawn with Naruto, but they are in their ideals and based on different characters. While Naruto shouts to everyone “let’s live together”, after which the enemies completely merge and go over to his side, Shiro denies any possibility of convincing his enemies, because he understands that trying to convince a person who wants to kill you is extremely stupid, and realizes that for To protect his ideals, he must kill his enemies. Another problem with this character is that he leveled up too quickly for the final battle, of course the authors tried to justify this, but the justification was clearly incomplete, taking into account how difficult it was for him in the last battle, and in the last one he just had plenty of opportunities to lose.
There is a justification for how one of the characters should not participate in the war, but this justification is found only in the Heaven's Feel route, which is a minus for the UBW route. The problem is that this character is from a family of magicians, which, although it owns magical chains that conduct magic through the body, but they have completely lost the ability to use them, which is why the question arises, “how was he able to summon a servant if he is not even a magician?” Of course, the answer exists, but in UBW they won’t even give you a hint about him.
Here is the previous work of the Ufotable studio - Fate/Zero, the background to the original novel, also became a kind of problem, not so much for the plot, but for the title as a whole. And the problem was not even exactly the backstory, but the fact that many expected to see its continuation, but instead received a full film adaptation of one of the routes, the script of which no one began to rewrite because of Zero. What, in principle, should be expected from Ufotable, from a studio that has already shown more than once that only it can treat scripts from the Nasuverse well. And I think it should be mentioned that UBW as a continuation of Zero is absolutely unsuitable, since Zero is not the first part and cannot be it, since it was written two years later than the novel itself, and it is similar only as a possible backstory, which Moreover, it was written by a completely different author. Therefore, all sorts of inconsistencies arise between Zero and F/SN. In addition, the story of Zero is more tense and dark in atmosphere, while the routes of Fate and UBW are lighter. So if, before watching Unlimited Blade Wroks, you decide to watch Fate/Zero, then keep in mind that this is not a direct backstory, but only a possible one.

As an independent work and film adaptation

As an independent work, for a person not familiar with either the novella or Zero, UBW may be quite to the taste, despite the excessive elongation and overly naive main character, because it’s all sorts of things better than that of the huge stamped and clichéd garbage that has been released from season to season for the fourth year in a row, everything is more rosy here. After all, there is a good plot here with a fairly competent narrative, with drama and a bit of romance, a pleasant soundtrack and decent action. And as an adaptation of one of the visual novel routes, it’s almost perfect. Why practically? As was written above, the second half came out with drawn-out dialogues that could have been trimmed. But if we forget about the prolixity, the authors were able to maintain everything that was required of them, namely the balance between the ordinary affairs of the characters and the plot component, while cutting out almost all unnecessary content that was not related to the plot and the development of characters.

But if the viewer wants a darker atmosphere, for example, like in Fate/Zero, then it’s probably worth waiting for the film adaptation of the third route of Heaven’s Fell. True, there are two problems with the film adaptation of the third route, the first is that it should be released in the format of a full-length film, in which the whole plot is clear, and the second problem is that there is exactly the same amount of information about it as there was information about Kizumonogatari before the fall of 2015. So we can still hope that Peter Jackson bit not only the Shaft studio but also Ufotable.

Main characters

Shirou Emiya - lost his parents during a terrible incident in the fourth grail war and almost died himself when he was found and saved by a magician named Emiya Kiritsugu, one of the participants in the fourth war. Subsequently becoming the adoptive father of young Shiro, for whom he became a role model, because Kiritsugu tried to help all people using his abilities. But he himself did not dare to teach Shiro any spells, so he taught him only one magic. Having become Saber's master in the fifth grail war, Shirou learns that the incident that took not only his parents, but also many other lives, is a consequence of the war, after which he decides to participate in it in order to prevent another catastrophe.

Shiro- an overly kind and naive character, with a developed sense of justice. Most likely the reason for this is the fire that took many lives, which is why he considers it unfair that he is the only one who managed to survive.

Rin Tohsaka- a girl from Shiro’s parallel class, the hereditary head of the Tohsaka family of magicians, one of the three great families that founded the Holy Grail War. Her family's magic consists of storing magic in gems, the size and strength of which vary depending on the amount of magic put into creation. She resolutely prepared for war for a long time, since her father Tokiomi Tohsaka died participating in the fourth grail war. He wants to win the war not only for the sake of his late father, but also to prove his strength. She intended to summon Saber, but for reasons unknown to her, she summoned Archer.

Rin- is a shrewd and resourceful person, although in private conversations she is more harsh, insidious and domineering, and her manner of speech is often unfriendly and dismissive towards other people, especially those whom she cannot stand.

Saber - servant Shiro intends to get the grail, considering it her duty, in order to correct, in her opinion, one terrible mistake, which is the main goal of participating in the war. She also participated in the fourth war, but was unable to get him when she was closer to him than the others. She is considered the strongest servant that Rin intended to summon, but Shirou did it instead.

Saber - Constantly insists that first of all she is a warrior, and that gender does not matter much to her. She is quite loyal and reserved, but in fact she tries to suppress her emotions in order to fully concentrate on winning the war.

Archer - a servant called by Rin to participate in the war, but he himself does not want the grail, since, judging by his words, he was able to achieve his goal during his lifetime. Although Archer is a servant class that uses mainly ranged weapons, this does not prevent him from using swords instead of a bow, and sometimes even combining these attacks.

Archer - enough controversial personality, he may seem cynical, but at the same time remains a dedicated defender. He may seem like a fairly pleasant person, but quite often he ends dialogues or discussions on a sarcastic note. He does not approve of Shiro's ideal of being a "defender of justice" since he himself once followed the same path, but in the end everything turned against him. But for the same reasons his ideal cannot be denied.

But I have never seen a single novella there. Maybe this is due to the Asian habit of “not releasing their own products outside the country,” or maybe due to the lack of translation from Japanese. One way or another, only since 2010 did books of this kind begin to appear on the shelves of digital stores. Well, enough about the past, let's look at the review part first. no spoilers, where we will try to understand why I recommend reading something that was already 15 years old.

Almost Fate/Stay Night review

Let's start with a description of the most important thing - how watchable and readable it is. Despite the ancient age of the drawing, it shows a quite suitable, even modern level of graphics. The characters have good body proportions, we are periodically shown the main character and are openly shown bloody scenes, hetnai and average quality backgrounds (very blurry). The screen resolution is only 800x600, but despite having fairly easily irritated eyes, I never felt fatigue, pain or strain. There is a convenient save menu with the ability to select slots, as well as quick skipping of already read dialogues (instant). Most The text is voiced by the Japanese so professionally that in the words you can feel the originality of the characters, their emotions and mood. Of course, there are places where thoughts are described to us - these are no longer voiced (like hentai, for obvious reasons).

Events happen quite naturally modern world, only with the exception of innovations in the form of mobile phones, computers and the eternal desire to “be different from everyone else.” The focus is main character named Shiro, who experienced the loss of his parents as a child. The boy lived for some time with his adoptive father, who reluctantly taught the boy useless types of creative magic. Then this parent passed away too. Then a schoolteacher and a childhood friend took custody of the teenager, although for the most part he began to live alone in a huge house. Although, to be honest, it’s difficult to call this trough a home; in fact, there are no chairs, no beds (except for the guest room), no closets, or other amenities - and all this is called " Japanese style". Sleep on the floor and be happy, yeah. In the morning you cook a meal from the products that you bought yourself, then you go to school, and then to work part-time, because tomorrow you will want to eat again. A completely closed and hopeless life.

In terms of his psychological characteristics, Shiro is quite persistent and purposeful. He wants to help people in any way he can. The word “no” is not in his vocabulary, which is often used by those around him. However, you can’t call him a weakling, because he can easily hit him in the face, having strengthened the nearest useless object with the magic of strength. This is of little use, but if you only have paper at hand, you can turn it into wood, and wood even into iron (the internal strength structure will change, and that’s all). This is where his skills end. The guy lacks a spark of humor, and yet he keeps all his emotions deep inside. One ordinary evening he witnesses a strange fight on the street, and realizing the mortal danger of the situation, he tries to take refuge in the school. In vain. An unknown enemy quickly catches up with him and pierces his heart with a pike in a matter of seconds. A magician appears nearby, who uses the power of a magic gem to transfuse magical energy. This gives the guy a chance to wake up after a while and hobble home, but if only everything were that simple...

Grail War

Having reached home, Shiro is subjected to a second attack by the spearman, because the latter is not going to leave witnesses. This is not a personal dislike at all - just ordinary people Under no circumstances should they see magic in action. Their elimination must be dealt with first of all, otherwise the holy church will take up the matter, at the same time eliminating you, the culprit of what happened. The church here is very unusual, for example, they won’t lift a finger if you kill people left and right, the main thing is that no one suspects a mystical background. God protects those who are careful, right? But it is impossible to complete the murder, because at the last moment Shiro somehow summons a defender to his side, who easily repels the attack and drives the enemy away. But it was not an ordinary familiar, such as a dog or a dragon, that was summoned, but a man - the heroic spirit of antiquity, about whom many legends were sung. And he did not appear on a whim, it was just time to wage another war for the Holy Grail - an artifact of incredible power.

Three hundred years ago, three famous families of magicians joined forces to create an artifact that would grant any wish. They used the knowledge of the ancients, the ability to form golems (alchemy) and energy crystals to summon something unimaginable into this world. But the grail turned out to be not a simple object, but an entity with its own interests. For its full formation it was necessary to make sacrifices, which were the founding families. The union quickly turned into a bloody massacre, but no one was able to get what they wanted, and the grail, never filled, disappeared. It’s just that he has the passive property of returning to the world once every 60 years in order to again give the sufferers the opportunity to fight for possession of the “cup”. For this, seven most worthy people (called “masters”) are selected and seven powerful spirits (servants) are called upon to serve them. Spirits and magicians must fight until only one pair remains. Only the last surviving servant can touch the grail and give his master the power to grant one wish. According to rumors, it could be anything, even “the destruction of all living things.”

And here comes the part that personally interested me the most - each servant belongs to a certain class of characters. Archer (archer) uses ranged combat techniques, Berserker is a rampant warrior, Saber is a swordsman, Caster is a mage, and there is also a Rider (horseman), Lancer (spearman) and Assassin. Accordingly, each master can only have one servant with him, and as proof of the contract between them, three command spells appear on the master's body. They allow you to give a special order to a servant once, for example, to instantly restore health, quickly teleport to the right place, or increase combat power many times over. Servants have their own consciousness, they are far from stupid and are themselves interested in fulfilling desires (at least, the grail promised them that). You can also ask that you stay in this world in human form and live normal life. For a long-dead hero, this is a fantastic opportunity.

First blood

The events of the plot unfold over two weeks (14 days) and during this short time Many alliances are formed, vile betrayals and unexpected discoveries take place. No dull school life, here in the evenings everyone is trying to kill each other, although not in the manner of a Royal Battle. Servants have cool ultimate abilities related to their essence. For example, Hercules performed twelve legendary feats, and therefore earned a special reward from the gods - 12 resurrections. Of course, this did not help him survive in the past, but in this war it will be a great bonus. The rest have active type skills that release a ton of energy, while coping well with a single target or an entire area. If you find out the name of the enemy's equipment or see his true weapon, you will be able to recognize the essence of the hero and easily take countermeasures (play on weaknesses). Therefore, the servants carefully hide their true essence, sometimes even from masters.

Spirits are extremely powerful, so masters cannot resist them in open combat. If the servant opposes any person, the battle will take only a couple of seconds and will end very predictably. After the death of the master, his servant can stay in this world for a maximum of a couple more days, after which he will disappear. But, if another participant in the battle has lost his servant, he can still renew the contract with the freed one. It turns out that in theory it is possible to do without human casualties, which is what the protagonist strives for. In practice, it is necessary to eliminate the weakest and most accessible links first. Battles between heroes often end in a draw, and since they quickly heal any non-fatal wounds, victory depends more on the survival skills and patience of the participants. Anyone who gets into trouble acts recklessly, because you can stupidly sit back and wait until the others kill each other.

Well, of course, Shiro would not have had any chance of winning if not for a special piano made from bushes. For some reason, the guy received unrealistic regeneration, capable of restoring him at the level of Wolverine from the X-Men. Enemies often treat what is happening with enviable indifference, so they do not make a control blow to the heart or brain. And this helps you lie down and “heal” by the next day. Again, it is not strength that decides, but survival. Although it won’t be possible without one-shots in any case. There are a total of forty bad endings in the game, all of them end with the death of the protagonist in different variations and are accompanied by text that takes about 3 minutes to read. After which the tigers dojo is highlighted, where the gamer is guided on the right path... They suggest the correct choices in dialogues and places of logical errors (a kind of cheats, if such a thing is applicable to visual novels at all). There are a dozen good endings, but in general there are only three major plot branches.

Three ways

The passage is linear, which means that you will first have to read the central branch of Fate, then Endless Blades and only then Heaven. The differences begin already on the third day out of 14, and then they become so significant that it’s easier to call each branch a separate game. Sometimes, while watching a good anime, a thought arises "It would be nice to see an alternative turn of events". Well, here they give three plot options at once, completely different. Not only the actions and beliefs of the heroes differ, not only the order of battles and elimination of characters, but also the antagonists change. Shiro is the same everywhere, but the set of experience he acquires varies. This is not a harem, not a romantic drama, but in general we can say that each branch has its own girl with whom she will have to play tricks. Although this is not even true - sex here is a necessity to replenish energy, in all three cases.

By the way, the hentai scenes were completely out of place. In such an active novel, they look inappropriate and simply unnecessary, and I don’t believe that there is any other way to share mana. And it just so happens that everyone is trying to sleep with only the protagonist, as if there are no more suitable individuals. Moreover, as participants great war magicians had to prepare for such difficulties in advance. But not one of them, NOT ONE, did this. Yes, this time the grail appeared only ten years later, and not sixty, which probably did not allow some to properly train their reserves. The three original families entered the battle, which makes sense, as well as the four strangers. Almost none of them by this time have either a rich family tree, or outstanding spells, or trusted allies. It would seem that it’s time to use the power of money and connections with the same police, hire snipers and set traps, but ALL clashes occur spontaneously head-on.

About halfway through reading Fate I started to get really bored. The hero is constantly beaten, nothing is clear, and the number of ordinary events is off the charts (the notorious tea party, cooking, meaningless training). At that moment I decided to watch the anime adaptation and I was right. It turns out there is a backstory called Fate/Zero, where the events of ten years ago are described in great detail. Also, instead of slow-witted schoolchildren, real masters of magic and cunning fight there, and the servants are much more charismatic. Adult showdowns, adult victims and the same goal - to gain desire. But the plot of Fate xthtcxeh is drawn out and bland. It becomes really interesting to go through the second and third branches, because everything changes a lot there. New servants are revealed in all their glory, and the intentions of the masters are demonstrated from a different angle. It’s probably better to start getting acquainted with the series with Zero, and only then move on to reading the novella... Or watching the anime, because it’s also done well (although the part about Heaven will be released only in 2018). The voice acting is the same everywhere, which undoubtedly pleases.

Disadvantages of the novella

The first reason to hate is its failure to follow its own rules. Either they tell us for an hour about the impossibility of a master’s victory over a servant, or they demonstrate exceptions. At first they say that there can only be seven servants, but then it turns out that there can be ten or a hundred. Constant contradictions in facts and rules cause bewilderment, so you involuntarily begin to perceive any new information with hostility. But what is most disturbing is the discrepancy between the class characteristics of the summoned heroes. In the Fate branch, the shooter does not use a bow and arrow at all, preferring close combat, the rider constantly gallops on his two hands like an assassin along walls and trees, and a true assassin turns out to be a brilliant fighter in open melee combat, instead of secretive techniques. The only mechanic that works properly here is the powerful resistance of all melee fighters to magic. That is, they are not affected by any level of spell, not even scratched. That’s why there’s quite a bit of magic in the novella. Spoilers begin next, but basically, that’s all that needs to be said about the novel.

It talks about duty, honor and valor, about attempts to protect society with all one’s might and to live up to the difficult status of “leader”. In general, everything that is alien to a gamer... Also, the concept of “fate” is presented here in a not very pleasant light, demonstrating the hopelessness of life situations and inevitable consequences. Shiro tries to enlist the help of others to train himself as much as possible in the use of magic and melee combat. As a result, he becomes very close to his servant and falls in love with her, although it is unlikely that it will be possible to reach such a level of adoration in two weeks. The essence of Saber, her past and, in general, the essence of the work of the grail are immediately revealed. In the end, it turns out that everything is not what it seems, and the outcome of the war was determined even before it began. All battles look like a banal beating of the weak by the strong and end with a large advantage of strength. But even in conditions of terrible inequality, the characters manage to survive. Sometimes the absurdity of some rescues goes beyond all limits. It is unlikely that the novel would have received such high ratings if it consisted only of this branch.

Here events take a completely different turn. Shiro makes himself a real murder-hungry opponent in the face of Archer. Having taken a liking to the protagonist, the archer begins to suspect that he is connected with the boy in the most unpleasant way - they are one. In the future, little Shiro will become that great hero Archer, who will believe until he is blue in the face in a world without war and the salvation of everyone around him. Realizing this absurdity, Archer decides to kill the guy at all costs, since he hated all this heroism of endless battles. His dream of “saving everyone” is impossible, because "when a terrorist takes hostages, but you save them, there will still be at least one victim - the terrorist himself". And the universe itself suggests that two identical objects should not exist in the same time period. Unlike the strong dependence on outsiders in Fate, here Shirou learns everything himself and begins to powerfully copy other people's techniques. To such an extent that it becomes a real threat to the grail war. Caster is also seriously pumped up, doing real crazy things. You shouldn’t give the ancient magician time to accumulate strength!

At the end of the story, unreal action begins. The servants die at the very beginning, and they are replaced by something new, dark. It seems that one of the participants in the war summoned a creature that could easily destroy both the city and the masters. Not only does it completely paralyze everything it touches, but it also resurrects fallen servants as corrupted undead. One by one, the masters lose their servants and are left high and dry, while hitherto untapped characters come to the fore. All previous measures of strength and ability no longer work, and aspirations change radically. The heroes have to reveal all their cards and discuss painful issues, and each event turns out to be a maximum surprise. And then it becomes much more difficult to search the right way passing, because the slightest mistake leads to death. In particular, some points along the way require a whole bunch of reputation from one of the heroes, and if you haven’t accumulated it, then they won’t let you go further and you’ll have to go through it again. It’s good that at least in the game folder there is a guide with all the possible dialogue answers and hidden rewards received.