Going in Blind - FGO

I've of course been vaguely aware of Fate: Grand Order for a long, long time. One of the longest running and most successful Gachas, especially of the original generation, it is hard to not be around the genre and industry and not know what it is. It apparently gets regular newspaper coverage in Japan and is known enough that non-gamers play it and possibly even follow the story. In the series "Nocchi wants to play games!" that Perfume does it is mentioned that Nocchi played FGO.

So, I've recently decided that maybe it is time for me to give it a try. I should try all the classics, plus I'm told that once you get through the story, most of the game runs off a weekly cycle where you don't necessarily need to login daily. Sounds good, I'll work my way through it.

But I'm going to do things a little differently - I want to go in blind. Completely blind. No FAQs. No tier lists. No pre-bought accounts. No Discord or Reddit. Just download the game and start playing.

That also means no re-rolling, although I'm not big into re-rolling in any case, for a lot of reasons. I also might spend, I might not, who knows. I'm not opposed, but I'm also not eager to start dropping money on something casual (also, I've heard that while it can be easy to play cheap, maxing a single character is an expensive proposition).

So here we go, my blind playthrough of FGO memorialized.

Pre play - The app has been loaded on my phone for weeks, but I've never clicked it. Here goes.

Day 1 - Do YoU WaNt tO AlLoW NoTiFiCaTiOnS? Sure... I'm lonely and no one texts me anyways.

Small update that took F O R E V E R

The game loads for a long time, and then it asks if I want to pull the update. I don't really have a choice, so here goes. While the game updates, it presents the character blurbs. I scroll through a couple, nothing really stands out, then... Leonidas? Like 300 Spartans Leonidas? The text says yes.

Scroll a couple more - CHARLES BABBAGE, mathematician and so called "father of the computer?" Class "caster" sure... sure...

(At this point the app inexplicably crashes, I start it up again, fearing I've got to start the update over. Fortunately it has saved my place, but gives me a couple more Servants to read about).

The download finishes and here we are. I'm asked to pick a region and the selection is bizarre - its like the US plus Southeast Asia minus Japan. Of course I ignore all the ToS and whatever and here we go.

The text starts scrolling and of course its a computer narrating a selection process, and then, since we are "waiting" for a reboot, it gives me a demo fight. It seems pretty straightforward, there is a card system with bonuses based on class, colors, and chaining. Straightforward enough, and it runs easily enough. Strict turn based, which is enjoyable for me personally and definitely a throwback.

In fact, the game drips in nostalgia for me. Way back when, the PSX was king and Final Fantasy VII was the hottest ticket in town. It was polished, the translation was good, but it also clearly wasn't made in America. FGO's presentation reminds me of FFVII a lot. The dialogue boxes are blue gradients with thick borders. Picking an option gives a chunky explosion sound. The way the characters talk, the music... it calls back to a time long past, and I'm a little bit lost in the nostalgia.

Of course, the sweet but struggling nerd is now
a warrior with a big shield and her
midriff out!

The story is scrolling past in and we've got these characters Lev, Mash, and Dr. Roman. The conversations are really tough to get through. It is that awkward anime style heavy on exposition to explain things. I think it is just showing its age as someone gives me a lengthy backstory about the spaceship we exist on or who is in charge or why we aren't on Earth or something... I've more or less zoned out.

Oh... this is interesting the dates are everywhere now! Its 2017 in the game! January 30th, 2004 is important! I'm regretting not knowing when the game was released now. As we walk through the tropes (paired up with a plucky person who struggles, there is a selection ceremony, I'm one of the chose recruits but somehow not supposed to be here, I have a fainting disease) of course an alarm sounds and now we are somewhere else as the world collapses around us.

I can already see that "limited time" honeypot...

Uh... did Mash just DIE? Maybe this is darker than I thought... oh wait, no, even better, its not sexy warrior Mash. Hahahahaha, what?

Another sort of tutorial battle and the game is picking up - the abilities are amazing. Obscurant Wall of Chalk and Transient Wall of Snowflakes. Amazing - is it a madlib, a rough translation, procedurally generated or is this just how this game works. I'm really excited now.

This battle ends, and the currencies start to flow. I earn stars, I earn QP, I earn Bond, some other form of EXP, and some items. This all feels familiar... and then the dialogue starts back up, and suddenly I realize its late, and I can't read this anymore, and I turn it off.