So after many hours, I finally beat the game. So here is the background, I played caster as my first playthrough. It took me 25 hours registered hours with at least another 5-7 hour spent dying that wasn't accounted for with my ending level at 38. I am starting a new game plus with Saber(currently Week 3) and maybe archer too afterwards. I heard they are much easier to play, I'll find out soon. Being Caster was pretty bad losing randomly to trash mobs. Not knowing the patterns for the mobs is just brutal being Caster.
So on with the review!
Gameplay
The gameplay revolves around two main phases with a clear pace of 7 weeks and a final boss at the end of each week. You have the first phase revolving around researching your final boss for the week and the other phase being the actual grind portion of the game. You run dungeons which do change up each time. I don't think it would too tedious as the other classes, but it is pretty bad being Caster when normal mods can kill you. The battle revolves around a rock-paper-scissors system. It seems random at first, but mobs follow a set pattern that you can eventually figure out a general gist of what they will do. It isn't particular bad system, just a bit of thinking and planning for best results. I found it wasn't too bad a system, just a bit tedious at the start when you don't see any of the enemy patterns and it is more guess work.
~8/10
Story
They twisted the basic idea of the Holy Grail War a bit. The basic foundations of servants and masters are the same, but the whole world has been warped slightly. Instead of battling out in the real world, they are in a virtual one and the holy grail being a super computer that can grant wishes. The game diverges into 2 main endings but I have only seen one of them. It is more catered to people that know about the nasuverse since it is hard to absorb so much information about the world if you had no exposure to it. It would feel way to text heavy of a game. The basic storyline is pretty simple where you are trying to figure out who you are. The story of your enemies are more interesting as you try to research information about their servant and learn a bit a bout them; Alice is still my favourite. Not a horrible story, but not a stand out one either.
~8/10
Graphics
This is hard to compare as I haven't played any other PSP games. It looked decent I guess. Not much opinion here with nothing to compare to.
~7/10
Sound
The music wasn't bad. I just know I had sound on during the whole time and it didn't bother me. I usually prefer to listen to my own music but they actually had decent voice acting. The voices were still in japanese so it wasn't butchered by localization. Pretty good stuff I think.
~8/10
Replayability
Considering that I am playing it again, I think there is good replayability. 2 very different endings with 3 servants with their own little story. After the 3 playthroughs, there isn't much after that. Still a good amount of replayability in this game with enough new stuff to warrant the extra playthroughs. It has been quite some time since I actually played a game a second time.
~8/10
Personal Satisfaction
I definitely enjoyed this game even if I got frustrated at all my deaths sometimes. Caster's fluffy tail and ears were just awesome. It almost makes me want to buy the figurine. Loving Fate/Zero in this current season probably amplified the game for me too. The craving for more more Nasuverse; Caster was just too awesome.
~9/10
Overall
I found the game an awesome play and definitely should played by anyone that wants more nasuverse. It might be harder to digest the game if you have zero background as there is quite a bit of text. The huge text heavy is almost like a visual novel. I guess the gameplay was decent and the story speaks more to ones that knows the background is what this comes down to. I'd play it again, Saber time!
Final Score [8/10]
Linkz: JP wiki
~Pearz
