Fate / Stay Night - the game -

Note: This may come as a shock to many people who have been reading this blog for a while now, but I have posted two posts on the same night. Yes, it's true. Two. This is the second one, so if you haven't already, check out the other post below (on the "Blogger Identity").

I bought the game version of Fate/Stay Night this past week, and received it via EMS on Thursday. There was no choice in my buying it, at least not in my mind. The series was one of the most intriguing of last season (at least next to NHK ni Youkoso!), and had impressive art and character designs. Lest we forget the story, it had some to spare, and we are left to wonder at the breadth of history that Type-Moon created for the game (it spans all the way back to ancient times, with detail to spare - a feat not accomplished since Rahxephon). And as for the music, its intro was by far the best of the assorted shows (save for Puzzle) that I've seen in the past year.


It arrived in a small package. Up until this point in time I'd never bought an eroge before, and certainly had never had the opportunity to hold one in my hands. In fact, the desire to possess one had never disturbed the solid refuge of my soul, until the beauty of the anime series tore into that barrier like grapeshot. And now here I sit, staring at this blog entry on one screen, and Fate/Stay Night - the game - on the other. Wow.

And then it hits me: this is a visual novel. Keyword there, novel. Not "novel," as in new and interesting, but novel, as in an extended work of prose or fiction. The second keyword here is extended. For all intents and purposes, extended here means: way more Japanese than I understand. And that's what hit me. With a game so focused on accompanying textual prompts, how am I supposed to slog through all the dialogue and descriptions (that I can't understand) to get to the good parts (by this I mean the fight scenes and dramatic pictures that accompany the text)?

So I give up. Like Nana, in Dan Kim's Nana's Everyday Life.

Note: The good news is that the translation group Mirror-Moon has finished translating the Fate scenario into English, and will likely have it done by the end of the year (crossing my fingers).