Fate/Stay Night Discussion Topic ~Spoilers~

[Ranmilia]

Mm.  Episode 3.  Nice fight scene they got there.  It's now quite clear what scenario they're following and what character's gonna get shafted on screen time...
The episodes feel short to me, for some reason.  We'll see how it goes.

[Dracos]

Bleh.  I might not get to watching this until summer x-x.

Dracos

[Shuten]

Mm.  Episode 3.  Nice fight scene they got there.  It's now quite clear what scenario they're following and what character's gonna get shafted on screen time...
The episodes feel short to me, for some reason.  We'll see how it goes.

I wouldn't quite go as far as to say they're definitely following a specific scenario just yet. If there's one thing Shuffle, best example I can think of, showed us is that it is possible to merge several relatively standalone and for the most part seperate scenarios, in the game after you reach a point with each girl there's very little interaction with anyone but 'said' girl, into one cohesive whole.

If the people using a vastly inferior product as their source can merge it into a whole that exceeds the sums of it's seperate parts I see no reason that the people working with vastly superior, in my opinion, material can't pull off something similar in the end. In essence it's just far too early to know.


Sincerely,
Shuten

[Dracos]

Watched through 4 now.  Mmm, I'm liking it.  Could do with more action and all, and well... the whole skittering around saying things with any confidence is bleh.  It's not really seizing me on that front...

That said, the overall plot is interesting enough to continue and the swordfights are always fun =D

Dracos

[thepanda]

Just saw the raw of 8.

The first half is pretty boring without being able to understand Japanese. The second half, however, is pure harem goodness.

Also, next week it looks like a double dose of action.

Saber Vs Assassin!

Rider Vs Caster!

One ladder!

One steel cage!

No way out!

... Or something to that effect. >_>

[Dracos]

I've watched through seven and I basically see the show as neat...but with the standing problem that they really don't seem to have a grasp of Shirou's character.  Is he a human that'll rely on Saber?  A hero?  Something inbetween?  They're not really sure as one minute he's showing his resolve to work as a team and win at any cost and the next he's leaving saber behind at home and the next he's...

The whole set of 'paradox' they laid out is more a problem of them not deciding to let him have some resolved decision one way or another than anything else.

Dracos

[thepanda]

Seen episode 11 yet, Drac? I should hope that would better define his character in your eyes.

The funny thing about Shirou is that he really seems to have a different idea of what a Hero of Justice is supposed to be like. It looked more like he wanted to be a mediator kind of person, saving physical confrontations for the absolute last resort. And then, bang, he's sudden;y thrust into a situation where he's supposed to help kill people, which goes against the grain of his beliefs. Go back and rewatch the church scene. He doesn't even want to get involved in the war until its revealed what the wrong person touching the grail might do. He doesn't seem interested in the grail at all.

I think a big part of the show is the differences between what he percikeves to be the path of justice and what rather harsher reality of the situation he finds himself in.

I like the guy,  but maybe its just me. I mean, he's almost universally hated as a main character by the Fate TV fanbase. I really don't understand why, though. What were they expecting from this series?

Feh, my problems with the Fate fanbase are an entirely different post. >_>

[Dracos]

I've watched through that and it was a neat episode but it seems more like his character changes pretty much every episode, almost as if different people are writing him.

I'm also not too keen on the setup so far if only because it's not feeling like a war.  Too many of the folks feel 'happy/nice'.  Yeah, the fights going on but it's not feeling like a competition at all.  Maybe it's the focus on Shirou.  Maybe it's the deliberate sympathizing of half the known masters and the complete obscuring of the others outside of servants showing up.  We're not getting a glimpse of non-shirou related fights going on to flesh out the sense of 'this is a war for the grail and not everyone focuses on shirou'.

Shirou goes very strongly between resolved and wishy-washy.  If he was a resiliant pacifist, he'd be more identifiable.  If he stuck with his early show resolution, he'd be pretty identifiable as well.  I think it is that he(and the other characters perception of him) waver so often that gets anger going his direction.  I like resolved shirou.  I don't mind mostly pacifist shirou.  The switching from the first to the second irritates me.  It's one thing to go from the second to the first, but he's been regularly going back and that just doesn't work.  You don't 'decide to do whatever it takes' and then decide 'I don't really want to fight', but that's the perception he delivers off.  Him going pacifist for Archer to yell at him about earlier just didn't jive.

If he stays in the resolved sense, he'll be easy enough to enjoy as a main, but if he switches back AGAIN it's just 'meh'.

Dracos

[thepanda]

I agree about the war. They really do need to play that up some more.

The next episode preview makes me hopeful that they've finally gotten out all of the exposition they needed to get out of the way. I cannot help but note that Type-Moon's previous series, Tsukihime, was said to suffer from just the opposite. The fans complained that too much was left out of the series. Now they have all the exposition and they complain about too much time being wasted explaining the set up.

Be careful what you wish for, indeed.

I don't have the same problem with the pacing that they do. Half and episode of exposition and half an episode of plot moving forward is perfectly fine for the early episodes in this kind of show. Now that the action has started and the explainations are (hopefully) out of the way I expect the series to pick up speed fairly rapidly.

[Merc]

I'm actually enjoying the pace, despite having had some reservations of the series from the first couple of episodes, and I really enjoyed Saber vs Rider in episodes 11 and 12. Episode 12 brings the first case of Noble Phantasm vs Noble Phantasm. It was neat, and flashy with lots of lights. =)

One complaint: I really did not like the fact that the sfx for Rider's NP was a hawk/eagle/bird screech, as opposed to a horse whinny.

[Dracos]

I agree about the war. They really do need to play that up some more.

The next episode preview makes me hopeful that they've finally gotten out all of the exposition they needed to get out of the way. I cannot help but note that Type-Moon's previous series, Tsukihime, was said to suffer from just the opposite. The fans complained that too much was left out of the series. Now they have all the exposition and they complain about too much time being wasted explaining the set up.

Be careful what you wish for, indeed.

I don't have the same problem with the pacing that they do. Half and episode of exposition and half an episode of plot moving forward is perfectly fine for the early episodes in this kind of show. Now that the action has started and the explainations are (hopefully) out of the way I expect the series to pick up speed fairly rapidly.

I'm fine with the pacing, just not what's being set up.

I liked Tsukihime a good deal, with the 'good deal left out'.  So *shrugs*

It was a tight enough story.

Dracos

[Sunhawk]

I'm informed that the title for ep 14 or so is "Unlimited Bladeworks", so they might not stick to the 'Fate' scenario alone (... I hope.  I really really hope.  UBW Archer/Shirou interaction makes Shirou a much better character).

[Liddo-kun]

I'm informed that the title for ep 14 or so is "Unlimited Bladeworks", so they might not stick to the 'Fate' scenario alone (... I hope.  I really really hope.  UBW Archer/Shirou interaction makes Shirou a much better character).

Mwahahahahahaha!  And your hopes are crushed and ground to dust!

^_^

[Dracos]

Advantage, Liddo?

Dracos

[Kwokinator]

The plushie is a little Japanese bastard who watches raws ^_^