Expect Blanka in FGO presently

In a sudden and frankly surprising turn of events, Yoshinori Ono has been officially appointed President and COO of Delightworks, the company behind mobile phenomenon Fate/Grand Order, upcoming fighter Melty Blood: Type Lumina, and recent disaster Sakura Wars: Hanasaki Maidens.

Yoshinori Ono previously worked with Capcom for almost three decades, before leaving the company in the summer of 2020. During his time with the developer/publisher, Ono worked on top brands including Resident Evil, Onimusha, and Dead Rising, but his greatest achievement remains his incredible resurrection of the Street Fighter franchise. At the center of 2008's Street Fighter IV — a title ?his bosses at Capcom had zero faith in — Ono almost single-handedly brought the legendary series back to the masses, a move which helped reignite the entire fighting game genre, particularly?? with mainstream audiences. As such, Ono is deservedly respected by both players and those within the industry.

From there, things got a little shakier. Handed the lion's share of Capcom's fighting game division, Ono bounced between good and poor decision-making, while developing a reputation for trolling fans — some of whom found this an endearing character trait, while others felt it was a "cute" facade to mask poor community treatment. Darkstalkers fans grew frustrated with Ono's endless teasing of new games which never arrived, while Street Fighter V would launch in notoriously rough shape: bare-bon??es, packed with mon??etization, and plagued with controversies.

In recent years, Ono has struggled with health issues due to his aggressive work ethic and non-stop, globe-trotting timetable. Reports suggest that Ono finally took his leave of Capcom after his design ideas for the upcoming Street Fighter VI were denied by the board.

Given this track record, Ono's new position at the top of Delightworks' ladder is already being treated with trepidation by the FGO community. In a brief message on Twitter, Ono openly stated that he plans to "look at development from a different perspective than in the past" — words that perhaps reflect on his twilight Capcom years. It's possible that being handed an entirely new project, a new team, and a new genre — away from the fighting games that dominated his days and nights — will allow Ono's magic to shine through once again, perhaps even leading to another "Street Fighter IV" moment.

Handing anyone the reins of your company is a risky play. We'll soon see if the Blanka-loving veteran is up to the task. If there's one thing Ono never lacked, it's ambition. Yoshinori Ono will a??ssume his new duties on May 1, with Delightworks founder and current President, Akihito Shouji, moving into a new r?ole as Chairman and CEO.

Dear FGC, World Warriors.

On May 1st, I will be moving from Capcom to another company.
I'm going to be working at a studio that is a little different from the one I'm used to.
I'm also going to be looking at development from a different perspective than in the past. pic.twitter.com/Hch7kkGZA0

— Yoshinori Ono (@Yoshi_OnoChin) April 27, 2021

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Also: Everyone gets a free Servant

Fate/Grand Order may not be quite ready to debut its next big story expansion, but the time between now and Spring won't be empty, if the game's handlers at Aniplex have anything to say about it. Players are still trading in their currencies from last week's rerun event, but next week promises an entirely new (well, new to English-version players, anyway) test for veteran Masters: Setsubun: The Oni Pagoda Festival.

From January 27 through February 2, players will fight their way up a Oni-filled hundred-story challenge tower alongside various Japanese Servants (notably the Archer of Inferno, Tomoe Gozen) in search of good fights and fabulous prizes. Setsubun is also notable for debuting an exclusive new "fatigue" mechanic, wherein the Servants used clearing one floor go into "cooldown" to recuperate before they can be deployed again. This means players will be challenged to maintain a deep bench of Servants, XCOM-style, rather than relying on the same handful of s??uper??stars they likely have. I, for one, am already leveling up some of my more neglected low-rarity Servants in preparation.

Players can, though, benefit from some reinforcements, and FGO provides. As part of the ongoing promo campaign for the Fate/Grand Order: Babylonia anime, anyone (veteran or otherwise) logging onto the game between now and January 29 will get a ticket redeemable for any non-limited 4-Star SR Servant. Given that 4-Stars are quite cost-effective compared to the much hungrier 5-Stars, it's a good deal - one I'm planning to spend to acquire Parvati, the long-awaited expy for Fate/Stay Night's Sakura Matou.

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Chaldea on Lockdown

There are only five days left until the New Year, but Fate/Grand Order isn't about to give its players rest. Right on the heels of its grind-heavy Christmas lotto event, FGO's website and social media feeds went into a dramatic lockdown, restricting network access while "the inquiry" progresse?d, with restoration promised by December 31.

Players logging into the game after ?a brief update also noticed a banner promoting a new main story chapter, titled "Part 2 Prelude: Prologue/December 26th, 2019." Access to the chapter is restricted to players who've completed the last portion of "Part 1," the "Final Singularity" chapter.

Presumably, the "Part 2" being referred to would be the next main campaign. This year's "Epic of Remnant" chapters were more of a 1.5, and based on the Japanese edition of the game (which is about 2 years ahead in terms of content), Part 2 will be titled Fate/Grand Order: Cosmos in the Lostbelt.? Veterans who've?? played ahead are promising a wild ride.

Incidentally, a news post from the website also promises a localized English-language release for the one-shot episode Fate/Grand Order: Moonlight/Lostroom?, an animated prologue to Part 2 that originally aire??d at the beginning of 2018.

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Here comes the San(ta)

Oh sure, another month means yet another Fate/Grand Order event to grind, but this one's a biggie! Indeed, it's time for the third of FGO's Christmas special grindfests. This one is titled Merry Christmas in the Underworld, and sends Masters to the land down underground to see what, besides climate change, is making Chaldea's Christmas revelries scorching instead of snowy. To that end they'll farm, farm, farm, tons of tokens to trade for ??draws from a goody-filled Christmas lottery box. Lotto events like this are the most generous times of the year for FGO, so players with time to spare will want to partake as much as they can to build a supply of much-needed materials. 

To sweeten the pot, the game's also giving away a new free 4-star rarity Servant, "Attila the San(ta)". She's a sheep-riding, mustachioed, Christmas-themed incarnation of everyone's favorite civilization-wrecking ancient alien, Altera (aka the "Wriggle Wriggle" meme girl som??eone puts i??n every FGO post's comments).

Players with quartz up the wazoo can also roll the premium gacha for the divine favor of  Ereshkigal, the Mesopotamian goddess of death. She's a 5-star Lancer, and also happens to look almost exactly like another FGO Servant, Ishtar. As to why, the reasons would technically count as spoilers for ther currently airing Fate Grand Order: Babylonia anime series, so I'll refrain f??rom divulging them her?e.

Merry Christmas in the Underworld kicked off at midnight today, and will run until midnight PST on Christmas Day? (D??ecember 25).

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Foreigners welcome

Fate/Grand Order players have been having a hectic quarter, with back-to-back events threatening their supply of stamina-refilling Golden Apples. First there was Shimousa, then this year's Halloween event, then a rerun of last year's Christmas event, and then a useful, English-exclusive Thanksgiving giveaway period, and now, the masters of Chaldea will be returning to the New World, in Pseudo-Singularity IV: Heretical Salem.

Apparently based on the famous Salem Witch Trials, a spate of colonial-era persecutions of people accused of witchcraft, Salem is the fourth and final chapter of FGO's Epic of Remnant story campaign. Salem will also see the addition of the twelfth (and so far last)of the game's playable Servant classes: Foreigner. Defined as wielding powers "from beyond human comprehension", Foreigners are built to kill Berserkers, taking half damage from the c??lass and dealing double damage to it. Interestingly, they're also infused with a dose of self-loathing, as they take double damage from other For?eigners, as well as from Alter Ego-class Servants like Mecha Eli-chan from the Halloween event.

The chapter should have gone live as of a few hours ago, but players eager to power through the missions or use their quartz on the banner are advised to think carefully. Delays in the content schedule compared to FGO's leading Japanese version allows rather detailed prediction of what's to come, and besides this year's Christmas event, other very desirable Servants are close to the horizon, including a second ?Foreigner-class character.

In any case, masters still looking to be bewitched by FGO's wife casino can check ou??t a trailer for the expansion below, or log in and feel the magic.

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Spooky Scary Credit Card Charges

We're not even a fortnight from the last significant Fate/Grand Order release, but time (and the event schedule) wait for no? master. Plus, it's already late October, which means the yearly Halloween event wouldn't be timely if the game waited any longer? to debut it. 

Which brings us to Halloween Strike! Demonic Climb?? ~Himeji Castle War~, the new seasonal event for this year. As with the previous two years' Halloween bashes, players will be reunited with famed serial killer Elizabeth Bathory as yet another batch of interlopers disrupts her plans to have a fun ol' Halloween Trick-or-Treat parade. Players will complete objective-based missions to progress up a spectral recreation of Japan's famous Himeji castle in search of the perpetrator, and eventually unlock access to "Mecha Eli-chan", a robotic incarnation of everyone's favorite wannabe-idol-slash-prolific-murderer. Notably, Mecha Eli-chan is the first "Alter Ego"-class Servant to be made available for players not rolling on the game's premium summon banners. Alter Egos debuted in this year's Fate/Extra CCC crossover and do bonus damage against Cavalry-class enemies, making them versatile p?icks for mixed-class battles.

Premium gacha rollers will also have a new 5-star Assassin-class Servant to target: Osakabehime. With a name that translates roughly to "The Princess Of The Walls", Osakabehime is based on a famous youkai spirit th??at allegedly haunts the corridors and crawlspaces of Himeji castle. Naturally, FGO portrays he?r as a nerdy shut-in who prefers painting plastic models and playing video games to going out and being a productive member of heroic spirit society.

The event kicks off this w??eek, on October 23rd, at 0100 PDT, and lasts through November 7th. Check out previews of Osakabehime and Mecha Eli-chan's?? Noble Phantasm attacks below.

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Any service game that aims to keep the lights on needs a steady flow of new things to do to survive, but even by those standards English-language Fate/Grand Order players have ha??d a rather busy 2019, with content drops or events o?ccurring almost weekly. Now a big new addition to the main story has just gone live.

Titled Pseudo-Singularity III: The Stage of Carnage, Shimousa ~Seven Duels of the Swordmasters~,  the new chapter is the third of four in FGO's Epic of Remnant main campaign.  The chapter is set in 17th-century Japan's Shimousa province, and will feature a plot inspired by the 1960s samurai fantasy novel Makai Tenshou, with FGO's version of Miyamoto Musashi will star here,?? in place of the novel's Yagyu Jubei. 

Naturally, the new additions extend to the playable roster of "Servant" characters, with the latest wave being drawn from Japanese history and folklore. Aside from the new Servants, returning limited-edition characters are also on the banner this month, including Minamoto-no-Raikou, Shuten-douji, and Musashi herself making u??p

The chapter went live at midnight on October 10, and will be available to any player that's finished the fi??rst main story campaign. Check out a sweet anime commercial for?? the arc below.

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Now this is podracing!

Australians and other residents of the deeper southern hemisphere may be midway through their winters right about now, but it's sunny and bright where it matters - inside mobile gacha games like Fate/Grand Order, whose English edition just debuted its second ?annual summer event.

Titled Dead Heat Summer Race, the new event breaks from last year's tropical island colonization get?away by leaning into a desert rally race - the Ishtar Cup - hosted by none other than everyone's favorite Mesopotamian-deity-slash-possessed-Fate-alumnus. 

Opened earlier today, the event will have players experiencing silly missions and gr??indy battles to "promote" their favorite pairs of servants in a race across the desert.

For their trouble, they'll receive g  various go?odies like ?Craft Essences, ascension materials, and an exclusive 4-Star Rider-class version of Ishtar herself.

Of course, it's not a summer gacha game event without some swimsuit-clad microtransaction bait, so the event a??lso has no less than seven limited summer servants available from the premium summoning banner. Headliners include a Caster-class version of Fate/Extra heroine Nero, and Saber Alter in a motorcycle-riding, gun-toting maid getup.

Dead Heat Summer Raceruns through late August and is open to any FGO player ??that's completed the tutorial chapter.

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Big (girl) in Japan

Fate/Grand Order fans might still be recovering from the arrival of Women of Agartha, but Aniplex aren't about to let 2019's packed content sched??ule up, what with both the 4th of July and the English edition's 2nd Anniversary hitting this month. 

That in mind, FGO is set to open its All The States?men ~Learning with Manga: The History of ??the American Frontier~ event to commemorate the event. Spinning off of the game's popular Learning with Manga webcomic - a humorous strip illustrated by artist Riyo that pokes fun at both the game and its playerbase - All the Statesmen is smaller in scale than the typical seasonal event, and will debut a series of quick quests over the next week, completion of which will award players a free Serv??ant. That Servant, designed by Riyo, is none other than  American folkloric hero Paul Bunyan. Though a mere one-star rarity, Bunyan is by far the largest Servant in the game to date, and on the Japanese server is known as a low-cost superstar for farming regular daily quests.

Coinciding with the event (which kicks off at 2100 PST on July 3rd) is a series of giveaways and special unlocks leading up to FGO's 2nd Anniversary. Players can tackle high-difficulty challenge quests based on the main campaign's toug?hest fights for rewards, and expect more freebies as the celebration builds up. 

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Thunder Down Under (the Earth)

Get ready to Rayshift, masters, because after a long round of event reruns, Fate/Grand Order is back with another main story chapter. FGO's Epic of Remnant campaign continues with the second "Pseudo-Singularity" chapter, titled Subterranean World of Folklore ~Women of Agartha~, which is set in the esoteric realm of Agartha, a legendary kingdom said to be situated deep beneath the Earth's surface. In keeping with the title, female servants (plus Astolfo, Enkidu, and le Chevalier d'Eon) gain double the "bond point" re?wards from completing missions within the chapter.

Women of Agartha also adds four new servants to the pool, including the 5-Star Caster of the Nightless City, 4-Star Assassin of the Nightless City and Berserker of El Dorado, and the 3-Star Rider of Resistance. As with previous Epic of Remnant entries, the new Servants' true names are hidden un?til revealed in the story proper.

Unfortunately for would-be new masters, access to Agartha does come with some prerequisites. Like Shinjuku Phantom Incident before it, Women of Agartha requires completion of the eight main story chapters before it (up to Solomon: The Grand Temple of Time). That said, it may still be a good time to join if you're considering it, as the game's 2nd anniversary ?is coming up next week, which will guarante??e a number of useful giveaways, including one based on what story progress you've made to date.

Check out a subtitled trailer for Women of Agartha below.

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But is the world ready?

The material-hungry Masters of Fate/Grand Order may still be days away from finishing off the ongoing "Gudaguda Meiji Restoration" spring event, but the cruel intelligences at Aniplex have opted to announce none other than the next event coming to the game: a collaboration with Fate/Extra CCC, titled BB Strikes Back: Let's Meet In the Digital Sea!. 

Fate/Extra CCC is based on Fate/Extra, the 2010 JRPG that also serves as the setting for Fate/Extella, Extella Link, and the Fate/Extra: Last Encore anime series. Though characters from Extra and CCC, such as Nero Claudius and Tamamo-no-Mae, have been present in Fate/Grand Order's roster since launch, BB Strikes Back is the first full FGO event based on the Extra setting. That's interesting because CCC itself was never actually picked up for localization by anyone, not even XSEED, which released Fate/Extra, Extella, and Extella Link. The reason why not could have to do with the dire state of the PSP market in 2014, or even the dire state of Extra's developer Imageepoch, which declared bankruptcy in 2015. It could also be because CCC is completely bonkers, even by Fate standards.

Starring a quartet of characters who all look uncannily similar to Fate/Stay Night alum Sakura Matou, CCC is a surrealist fever-dream of a JRPG with themes focusing on love and sexuality, and all its associated psychodrama. It's the sort of title that proves that even in this day and age, it's entirely possible for a non-pornographic game to be Too Horny For Consumption. Such is its reputation that many FGO fans speculated the event would be skipped entirely in the English versio??n. Luckily, they were wrong.

In any case, as of press time, there's no explicit schedule for the event's release, but Aniplex have already kicked off a pre-release promotion campaign, along with the teaser trailer below. Smart quartz is on it coming out in a week or two. With it will come several new servants, including two entirely new playable classes: The Alterego, represented by CCC characters Meltryliss, Passionlip and the infamous Sessyoin Kiara, and the MoonCancer, a class of one ?represented solely by the titular BB.

Masters who aren't still busy farming out the remainder of the current event can prep for their first date with CCC by improving their Fate/Extra-related Servants, suc?h? as Nero Claudius, Hans Christian Andersen, Elizabeth Bathory, and Tamamo-no-Mae. 

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You have your (Grand) orders, folks

Fate/Grand Order just recently debuted a new addition its story with the opening of the Epic of Remnant expansion the other day, but that doesn't mean people with the wisdom not to play the game are left out in the cold. Aniplex have something for owners of PS VR headsets, in the form of the English debut of Fate/Grand Order VR feat. Mash Kyrielight, which is avai?lable now for the low p??rice of free on the PSN store.

Best regarded as a short experience than any kind of full game, Fate/Grand Order VR contains a set of skits starring FGO heroine (and St?rongest Kouhai), the Shielder-class Demi-Servant Mash Kyrielight. A second scenario, previously exclusive to Japanese PS Plus subscribers, features OG Saber herself, Altria Pendragon. 

The whole thing's been out for a while for Masters with their own Japanese PSN accounts, but it's worth noting that the English release comes with the Altria scenario as well as an English-language dub courtesy of actresses Erica Mendez (Mash, Konosuba's Megumin), and Kari Wahlgren (Altria, Durarara!!'s Celty). That's good because even J??apanese ??audio purists might find it a bit difficult to read subtitles in a VR headset.

Even folks without a VR headset can benefit, as new free themes and avatars have also been added to the PSN stor??e in commemoration of the release. 

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2/25 Shinjuku Scramble

It hasn't been too long since the Masters of Chaldea finished off Fate/Grand Order's main story quest by blowing up a ton of weird tentacles and putting human history on the correct path, but the fight isn't over yet. Detailed at this weekend's Fate/Grand Order USA Tour event, the game's next major storyline, titled Epic of Remnant has just gone live after an impromptu maintenance bre??ak on Sunday even??ing.

More specifically, Epic of Remnant is an umbrella title for four new chapters in the story to be released over the next year. Called "Pseudo-Singularities", the first is called Shinjuku Phantom Incident, and takes place in Shinjuku, Japan, in the year 1999, making it the first major FGO plotline set in a contemporary location (not counting the prologue, where the city of Fuyuki is mostly a smoking ruin). Epic of Remnant also brings back an old staple of Fate/Stay Night, which is the hiding of its Servants' identities until they're revealed in the storyline. Back in the day, it was a big deal to learn a Servant's true identity, as knowing who they were in life could give a big advantage in anticipating their abilities. Until Epic of Remnant, FGO tended to play fast and loose? with the true names.

Of course, given that FGO's English release lags a year or more behind Japan, that information is already all out ??there in the wild, so it's not as if it's a ?huge surprise if you're the type of player to do research, but spoiler-averse may find plenty to like as they contemplate rolling for Shinjuku's banner Servants, which include a new 5-Star Archer, 4-Star Assassin, and 4-Star Avenger. 

Even playe?rs not inclined to roll will be taken care of, as the update also debuts new game mechanics, like "Break Bars" designed to make powerful bosses a little less simple to defeat, and UI updates (like a music player in the "My Room" section), as well as an increase to the player's Master level, allowing an increase in the friends list limit as well as extra Cost to allow equipping more high-rarity Servants and Craft Essences.

You check out trailers for both Epic of Remnant and Shinjuku Phantom Incident below. Who do you plan to roll for?

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Come get some quartz

It will never not be a little weird to me to realize how popular the Fate franchise is, but the truth can't be denied: It's up there. Practically a household n?ame among the nerdy and loaded enough to buy building-??sized ads to put up outside E3, Type-MOON's baby has gone places, and continues to rise.

Most pertinently, it's also rising up the charts, as Fate/Grand Order is ready to celebrate hitting a whole five million downloads since the English version's launch in mid-2017. That's enough Masters to permanently kill a Demon God Pillar at least twice over! To commemo?rate the milestone, they're kicking off a special login promo for the next eight days, starting tonight at 20:00 PT. Players who show up each day can nab freebies, including enhancement fodder and five free summons on the premium gacha. A special summonin??g banner will also go live, putting the limited 5-Star Caster-class servant Leonardo da Vinci up for grabs.

Fate fans that aren't about to get excited by a mere banner promo aren't left out in the cold, though, because Aniplex is getting ready to kick off a fan event called Fate/Grand Order U.S.A. Tour 2019. Featuring photo ops, activities, special guests and merch, the event takes place over the weekend of February 24th. Further visits to U.S. anime conventions are also planned for later in the year. Incidentally, an English release was also announced for Fate/Grand Order VR feat. Mash Kyrielight, a free PSVR experience allowing players to ogle FGO heroine Mash? (and later, Altria Pendragon) from th??e comfort of their headsets.

And there's more. The Fate franchise as a whole celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, so Japan-local fans can soo?n visit Aniplex's planned celebratory events, including an exhibit in R??oppongi and more to come. 

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Finish Babylonia already

Fate/Grand Order's big Christmas event was a silly, generous diversion from the game's usually serious story about restoring huma?n history with the he?lp of the ghosts of heroes from across time and space, but now this train ain't stopping until the end.

And though Aniplex debuted the main campaign's seventh "Singularity" chapter, Absolute Demonic Front Babylonia, barely ten days ago the Masters of Chaldea have just under a week left before the next Singularity, The Grand Temple of Time: Solomon opens on December 20th. 

The pace is definitely a change from the old pattern, where months would pass between new story additions, so why the sudden rush? The issue is that Solomon, as the fi?nal chapter of the current narrative, is a bit different from the regular campaign chapters. This time it's a hybrid of campaign and limited-time event, featuring a number of high-end raid-class battles that give generous rewards but only appear for a short period. It even features a mechanic to empower players that have spent a lot of time leveling friendship bonds with their favorite characters. 

To encourage Masters to goose their story progress, Aniplex is also offering plenty of AP-restoring Golden Fruit to let players temporarily ignore the game's "stamina" system, as well as promising a reward of 30 Saint Quartz (enough for 10 rolls on the premium summon) to anyone who finishes Babylonia before the Solomon update drops on December 20th, 20:00 PST. Considering th?at that much Quartz would cost at least $25 to buy from the store outright, it's a good deal if you can m??ake it. 

In any case, the end is in sight for (this part of) Fate/Grand Order, and it looks like they want to make sure as many people as possible are ready to meet it. In the meantime, check out a quickie trailer for Babylonia below, featuring banner Servants King Gilgamesh (a Caster this time), his best bud Enkidu, Ishtar (who debuted at Christmas), Quetzalcoatl (my new favorite Rider), two new versions of Medusa, one short and one even taller than she already is (like, way taller), and finally, Merlin, the Arthur?ian wizard that practically redefines the FGO meta upon? his arrival with the New Year's banner.

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Not like it needed the help, honestly

On the off chance you needed more evidence that Fate/Grand Order is somehow the most profitable in-joke in all of anime, the free-to-play mobile wife casino has just kicked off its latest holiday-themed event, The Little Santa Alter. In it, players will comp?lete missions and farm resources to trade for much-needed goodies, including a free four-star rarity Lancer-class Servant, Jeanne d'Arc Alter Santa Lily. 

If you're curio??us about FGO, now might be a good time to start, as this is when the game is at its most generous in terms of free rolls, resources??, and Servants. 

Veteran players can look forward to the current paid summoning promotion for the 5-Star Archer Ishtar, a Mesopotamian goddess who miraculously looks the spitting image of Fate heroine Rin Tohsaka.

But back to Jeanne d'Arc Alter Santa Lily! That mouthful of a name alone is emblematic of the endearingly stupid parts of  Fate lore that I love, ??an??d FGO in particular, so let's unpack that a bit below.

Jeanne d'Arc - Simple enough, it's the French saint that you have to have a version of in every medieval anime ever (because it's the law or something). She's in FGO, and also stars in the Fate/Apocrypha anime.

"Alter" - a classic Fate term depicting a heroic Servant in a sort of corrupted state first shown in Fate/Stay Night's "Heaven's Feel" story route. Stylistically, it's shorthand for a dark, evil(-ish) rendition of an existing, otherwise heroic character. Several Alters are in FGO, including one of Jeanne hers??????????????????????????elf.

"Santa" - Needs little explanation. A Christmas version of an existing character. First pioneered by Altria Pendragon donning St.?? Nick's floppy hat and sack of toys in last year's Christmas event "Almos?t Weekly Santa Alter".

"Lily" - A slightly more obscure title given to younger or child-like versions of existing adult characters. For example, "Saber Li??ly" is a ?version of Altria Pendragon from her days before becoming King Arthur.

So yeah, this Christmas, FGO's gift to its players is a baby edgelord version of Joan of Arc...in a Santa outfit. Whether it's because?? we were naughty or nice i??s anyone's guess. 

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In the summer time, when the grinding is hot

The headline is actually rhetorical because as of a few hours ago, we know the answer: All of them, and then some. Fate/Grand Order's first summertime special event has gone live in the English version of the game, and brings with it a storyline that's basically Cast Away, except you're?? Tom Hanks and the volleyball is all the ?cutest figures from history and legend.

In the event, players must slaughter local wildlife to gather up materials to make the island they're stranded on more liveable, and in doing so hoover up tons of much-needed ascension materials and other goodies. They'll also gain a new free 4-Star Servant, an Assassin-class version of everyone's favorite Spear Mom, Scathach. Why Assass?in? Because now that she's traded her tights for a swimsuit, she's dressed to slay!

Of course, a summer event wouldn't be complete without an incentive to gamble on wives, so FGO's tossed in a handful of swimwear-clad servants to tempt away your Saint Quartz with. The long-awaited 5-Star Archer version of Altria Pendragon (complete with super soaker) and a 5-Star Lancer version of Fox Wife Tamamo no Mae (the lance is a parasol) are joined by a whole squad of 4-Stars, including Rider Mordred (surfing edition), Archer Anne Bonny & Mary Read (now Anne's musket means something), Caster Marie Antoinette (finally in line with what she actually does in battle),  the game's third Ruler-class Servant, Martha (who rules with her iron fists),? and a Lancer version of arsonist stalker Kiyohime (otherwise unchanged, she just has a spear now). 

So if you're feeling the heat, join the game! Or maybe just check out the trailer below, then play the pool episode of Today's Menu for the Emiya Family on loop instead.

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Shhh!

Knights, I bid you welcome to your new Fate/Grand Order update! Aniplex will now let us play the sixth chapter in its ongoing time-travelling, history-correcting saga, Camelot: Divine Realm of the Round Table.

As might be ??implied by the title, the next story event is based on Arthurian legend, and stars a handful of new Servants based on King Arthur's finest, including Lancelot (this time not crazy), Gawain, Tristan, Bedivere, and another Lancer-class version of Arthur herself (though she's pretty much the same as her Lancer Alter from a few months ago, bar a 5-Star stat boost). Th??ere are also a bunch of decidedly non-Arthurian Servants joining the fray, too, with Ozymandias, Nitocris, and yet another version of Hassan-i-Sabbah.

Aniplex also h??as some goodies for lapsed players, offering free rolls at the gacha to accounts that haven't logged in since mid-March.

Eh, but on second thought, maybe let's not go back to Fate/Grand Order. It is a silly game...

The post Camelot! Camelot! Camelot! It’s only Fate/Grand Order’s new story chapter appeared first on Destructoid.

Raids, Riders, and Raikou

Are your nerves frayed from absorbing all this E3 news? Why not unwind with a spot of gambling on your phone? That's at least one way to spin the prospects for Fate/Grand Order's latest event.

Titled "The Great Tale of Demons: Onigashima", the event continues FGO's recent wave of content based on Chinese and Japanese myths by adding a series of story missions and raid encounters patterned after Onig?ashima, the legendary island of demons in Japanese folklore. 

More notable is the fact that unlike the last couple of events, this one comes with a free new Servant: a 4-Star Ride??r-class version of Sakata Kintoki. The famous "golden" berserker's gone with a biker motif this time, and he's actually one of the best in his class, so he's worth picking up.

Premium rollers might have to fear for their wallets, though, as the paid gacha summons are adding Ibaraki-Douji (the raid boss from last month's Rashomon event), and Minamoto-no-Yorimitsu. The legends of Yorimitsu (aka Raikou) are the inspiration for many Japanese tropes, including anything you've ever heard in anime or games about an "Elite Four" or "Four Heavenly Kings". In FGO she's been reimagined by Valkyria Chronicles' charact??er designer ?as...the world's strongest mommy GF. What a game of culture, indeed.

The post Clear out an island of demons with your biker buddy in Fate/Grand Order’s new event appeared first on Destructoid.

Ced's Declassified F2P Survival Guide

I don’t criticize freemium games because I want them to suffer. On the contrary, much like my pal Jason, I believe that it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to play games without taking any immediate financial risks. I love the very existence of freemium games because of reasons only the?y can replicate, which is why I’m willing to call them out for pulling unethical bullcra??p. The concept of free-to-play deserves to be better than that, but unfortunately, there’s a sea of such games that definitely d?on’t deserve it. At their best, they’re literally free entertainment better than some $60 games.?? At their worst, they’re the biggest wastes of time and money around the gaming market.

In all of my years of hacking and slashing through the thickets of the gacha jungles, raiding the temples of MMOs, and weathering the storms of idle games, I’ve developed a keener sense of what makes these games tick. If there's one good thing about so many freemium games having the same problems, it's that it's easier to ?see them. These are the notes of my many travels across the freemium space. Healthy gaming habits to resist arbitrary addiction, omens of good and bad games, and warnings against common hazards. It’s my hope this guide w??ill help at least one person avoid making a purchase they’ll regret, or help that same person dive deeper into a game that’s worth it.

Oh, and every image in this article is from the official Fate/GO gag manga by Riyo. Yes, this is actual promotional material for a gacha game. Yes, it is that honest about the vices of gacha games. And yes, I mostly have gacha games in mind for t?hes?e tips, though they should be applicable to other F2P mutations as well.

Never buy random loot without anticipating Murphy’s Law

The addictive risks of gambling are already wid??ely known, but let’s reiterate. Just because you spend money on a loot box, a gacha pull, or whatever doesn’t? mean you’ll be satisfied with your purchase. This is one of the biggest red flags out there. If you spend money on a product, it’s unhealthy to spend even more money specifically because you dislike what happened when you first spent money.

A reasonable gacha game should make getting a common result feel somewhat valuable, either by having some secondary redeemable value or giving you alternative gameplay options such as meaningfully different abilities. But whether or not those results are decently designed has no bearing on the true danger. The gambler’s fallacy compels people to pull the lever over and over again until they finally get the jackpot, only to see the results con?sistently out of their favor.

One of the best ways to av?oid that loop is to never make a payment unless you are prepared to make peace with Murphy’s Law. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong, and if it somehow doesn’t go wrong, be willing to quit while you’re ahead. This doesn’t mean you should expect to be excited with getting the worst possible result, but it does mean you should be content with the fact that you spent money if you get the worst possible result. Continually spending until you get that one result you want most is a gamble nobody ever wins.

Knowing is half the battle

Normally, I advise against looking up wikis for games I haven’t even played yet. These resources tend to be rife with spoilers and will otherwise dilute a game’s experience. But freemium games are a hugely different beast because whether they’re good or bad, they thrive off of keeping players invested in the long haul. They want players to be hooked on content, and to constantly tease them to keep playing. Much like any other game, curiosity is used to drive the player’s motivation to keep playing, but here that investment’s payoff usually comes ?much later. A little research can clear up that doubt, giving you a clearer sense of whether you want to play for the journey itself or not.

Long-thriving F2P games also have various recurring events that newbies may be oblivious to. After grinding for a long time to save?? a hoard of premium currency, few things are as frustrating as spending your hard-earned loot only to realize a far better use for it was just around the corner. Wikis or other resources can help you plan ahead and ??make every last Rainbow Whatever count.

And if there isn’t a wiki… if the game is more than a few months old, that should be a red flag itself. People will make wikis for everything, even the most obscure niche games. Even a horrendously incomplete wiki means someone found something to like, though probably not enough to inspire them ??to actually make a decent resource. Conversely, a deep, creatively designed, and informative wiki shows that there’??s a passionate community backing it, which is generally a positive sign.

Set strict budgets

This is closely related to the first point, and it’s more of a piece of general advice than anything specific to F2P gaming. Still, ignoring this is the point where a spending habit becomes unquestionably unhealthy. If you want to commit to an F2P g??ame, you need to understand exactly how much money is okay to spend, and never spend any more than that. Never.

That amount may be as high as an MMO subscription, as low as $0.00, or whatever else works. I recommend something proportionate to the game’s own production values regardless of its microtransaction prices, so I’d never spend more than $5 per month on mobile games if even that. Budgeting is a healthy principle to practice everywhere in life, and it’s helped me appreciate the little things I have so much more. I can respect a man for spending $70,000 on a single game as long as it’s within his financial means, but going that overboard must surely numb one to the value of all that money. A stricter, more responsible budget not only protects our savings, it helps us evaluate the true w?orth of how we spend it.

Ask yourself if the grind is worth it

Much like this genre itself, grinding is a contentious area of game design. There’s a lot to like about repeatedly empowering your party members, but it can easily become more of a chore than a game. Freemium games usually r??equire plenty of grinding by nature of their long-term design and offer microtransactions as an opportunity to skip the grinding. Doing literally anything repetitive for a long amount of time can become boring no matter how fun it might otherwise be, and standard game models have this problem too. So I can forgive a long-haul game that I can play for free asking me to trade my money for my time.

But I would never take that option in the first place if there is nothing fun about the process of grinding itself. After all, the gameplay that? awaits you at the end of the grind is most likely fundamentally similar to the gameplay from the grind itself. If you want to get technical, there might be some interesting kinks in the mix for any decently designed boss battle or other progression roadblocks. But if you don’t find the core gameplay loop to be satisfying in itself, that loop isn’t going to magically fix itself just because you have bigger numbers to make it less difficult. Any good progression-driven game should make grinding enjoyable, even if it still takes too much time for its own good.

If you just want to skip the grind because you don’t enjoy anything about the game in its current state, it’s not like giving it your money will make you happy anyway. Likewise, if you enjoy the grind, it’s a sign that the game has an e??njoyable gameplay loop that can keep you satisfied for a long time.

Beware manipulative language

No age group is immune to this red flag. Freemium games can say whatever they want, as long as it’s not false advertising, to convince you to spend more money on them. That’s literally how a business makes business happen. That’s the job of any game developer, even for retail games without DLC, but a??pplying that job to a model without a spending cap get dangerous fast.

?Many freemium games will try to shove HUGE DEALS into your face with a strict time limit before they disappear forever, especially if you’re a brand new player. Never impulse buy on microtransa??ctions. Gacha games frequently push new banners as YOUR CHANCE TO GET THE BEST THING. And technically, they’re right! They offer a chance. Only a chance. Remember Murphy’s Law?

This type of language has suckered a lot of people into poorly spent impulse purchases, but budgeting and patience can deflect them. Of course, those are some of the milder and more predictable examples. Disney Heroes Battle Mode actually made me cringe a little as I explored its menus. No, “Daily Deals” for purchasing premium currency shouldn&rs?quo;t be on a daily quest list, especially not when you remind five-year olds to do their dailies in the same tone a parent would remind them about their chores.

See if the service actually serves

I’m a bit confused by the term “games as live services.” The wording implies that these games are built with the user’s pleasure at the forefront. But people usually use this term with?? the connotation ?referring to games that actively attempt to exploit their player bases. If I’m going to call a game a service, I want it to actually serve its players' wants.

Post-launch support is vital for any F2P game because it sustains the servers. A game that’s stagnated in updates is very likely on its death knell and as such is probably dangerous to invest yourself into. That doesn’t even necessarily mean the game itself is bad, just that it’s run by developers who can’t sustain it as a service. Dungeon Fighter Online died in the west because Nexon failed to keep up with updates. Then it rose from the dead thanks to Neople because the demand was still there. Doesn’t change the fact that Nexon didn’t do a lot of serving in DFO’s old incarnation, and I say this as a longtime fan of DFO.

Also, note that the most successful F2P games more frequently give valuable in-game gifts to their players, like Fire Emblem Heroes. Obviously, they mostly do this because (A) they already make enough money to offset any customer?s declining to spend afterward and (B) these taste tests can lure players into spending more in turn. Nonetheless, any game successful enough to do this on a regular basis is also often a safer bet to play than most.

Check if your friends give a crap

In all of my days of F2P-game hopping, the most fulfilling times I’ve had were with any game where I’ve tagged along with my friends. Playing any gam??e becomes better with friends, but it’s especially true for any game built around sticking for the long haul, with or without built-in community functions like guilds or whatever. In games that pride themselves on having so much content that they’re impossible to 100% complete, chatting it up with pals who have characters or other things you don’t can broaden your perspective of the game’s true depth (or lack of).

If by chance you’re the only person in your group still playing the game after a month, it’s very likely everyone else got bored of it and you might be too. On the other hand, I’m in a Discord server with a bunch of friends who have gradually roped in more Granblue Fantasy players. That's because Granblue actually has a lot of gameplay bits?? to discuss and well-written stories to gush over. Free-to-play is beautiful because it breaks down financial barriers and makes it easier than ever for people to connect over shared gaming interests. These games live and die by their communities, both on a grander worldwide scale and in personal circles. Like most multiplayer games??, they can be enjoyed alone, but staying a solo player forever somewhat misses the point of what F2P can do for people.

Just to be crystal clear, I consider this a healthy F2P gaming habit assuming you connect over shared interests, not cave into peer pressure. If your opinion does a complete 180 on any game, it’d be pretty cruddy to stick around just because your friends still play it. Trust me, you’ll all be happier if ??you stick to games you like on their own merits.

It’s impossible for me to be more specific than this because, like all forms of entertainment, quality is subjective. A game with complex mechanics and high production values like Granblue may have a gameplay loop that just isn’t fun to you. A simple rehash of the clicker formula like Crab War might have eno??ugh tin??y tweaks going for it to hit your personal sweet spots. But these tips help define the lines where time and money spent on these games stops being a matter of preference and starts being a matter of extrinsic compulsion.

I don’t say “just never spend money” for these games because if everyone did? that, the best of these games would definitely die out. Of course, ??????????????????????????I don’t say “you have to spend money” either because that fuels the compulsory addiction/commitments that are this model's biggest problems. Games that can be played for free and only make money from in-game purchases remain ethically hazy because both free and paying players sustain them in different ways. The lines where spending becomes irresponsible is even more subjective here than it is in most games.

But the responsibility is shared by game developers and publishers, as it is for ?any game. Any game that deliberately abuses that responsibility will eventually lose some of that power. That’s ??what happened in Japan, forcing gacha games to show drop rates and offer eventually guaranteed drops. Either by choice or by obligation, we will see F2P games drift more towards responsible design sooner or later. But most likely not before they creep too far over the red tape, as they have before they backtracked in the first place. In the meantime, I hope this helps you identify and enjoy the better half of these games.

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