Fate/Samurai Remnant - Review

 Genre: RPG.
Developer/publisher: Koei Tecmo/Type Moon.
Platform: PS4/5/PC.
Official Site: https://www.koeitecmoeurope.com/fate-sr/

Release date: 28-9-2023.

 

I wanted to play this sooner but since it released the same day as Ys X it ended up

being backlogged for the fact that it seemed like it was a pretty long game.

In december this game also got an update with easier/harder difficulties as well as more

servants being playable in a rematch mode which was enough incentive for me to prioritize

it over other games that I still wanted to play, something like now or never I guess? 

Sadly I can not talk about this game without spoilers so uh you're warned right here I guess.

 

Pro's

- Good story & well written charactters(Most of them).

- Takes a while to get going but it does explain everything making it accessible to newcomers.

- Decent graphics and fitting bgm.

 

Con's

- Basically need to play the game like twice(or thrice without proper saves) to get the full picture.

- Hyper armor is a thing in this game.

- Half assed endings, lacking a proper epilogue.

- MC's personality (not that he had much) takes a 180 on NG+.

Oh hey I remember that Fate/stay night anime also starting like this!

Incase you were wondering, no you do not need to watch any anime or read any VN

as Fate/Samurai Remnant is a stand alone entry with its own story in a different time period.

Which makes this game very accessible if you've never watched or read anything fate related!

I should probably put a warning here or something but this game while fiction is quite

realistic about what old timey japan was like as well as... what it means to be a samurai.

---

I consider myself fairly acquainted with the series as I have watched a few of the anime over

the years, this game did an outstanding job at making sense of the lore of the series.

Due to that the prologue took me 2-3 hours to complete... by 30 hours I was

in chapter 5, its quite obvious to me that this game has VN roots since the scenes could be

on the long side and if you add digressions aka side stories its even longer.

It even has a story branch and multiple endings so be prepared to play it atleast twice

and then reload for the final ending. (There's also a joke end but we don't talk about that one.)

You'll be able to find a guide through google for sure but it is generally recommended to do todoroki/yashiro aka rat route first and then snake route on 2nd play along with the NG+ ending.

 

Just doing one route especially rat will probably leave you unsatisfied and it is definitely worth

to do another playthrough as IMO snek route was generally better than rat.

There are plenty of new scenes available giving further context to either characters

or lore while going for the other ending so despite it being a trainwreck it wasn't all bad.

---

If I had to rate the endings it would be Snek > Greg > Rat > 3rd end.

At first I didn't really understand why Snek end just cut Iori out of the picture

but the 3rd end explains it very well and the dude is just dead inside at that point.

Idk this game is missing some sort of true end but I guess Iori's a deadbeat samurai 4lyf

that is if you make the morally correct choice and not pursue something for personal gain.

---

 

While playing the game I generally did like the MC Iori but that kinda changed after the 3rd ending

and now I just can only see him as a deadbeat samurai. Also Iori and his servant Saber weren't off

to the best of starts they would often buttheads early on and while they could work together

to some degree another Master and a rogue servant had to explain all of the basics of

the ritual to Iori. As you can see the story is very slow due to that.

Iori was mostly indifferent and just really wants what's best for the town

so he actually got mad at his servant for destroying a bunch of shacks.

As some NG+ exclusive scenes turns out... Iori is actually a bit of a maniac too

and not much better than your typical ronin he's just more nice about it??? idk how to explain.

If Welkin was one of my favorite protaginists, Iori was one of my least fav's.

Well... Iori and Saber just didn't trust each other very well in the beginning but it did get better.

Because trust doesn't always come so easily and besides I did enjoy their interactions

as well as some of the other characters and the rivalry between masters.

Saber is kind of like a brat, cocky and also a glutton... but does have his heart in the right place.

Also Saber is often described as a woman but I thought she was a guy or like femboy.

Doesn't help that they refer to themselves as boku. >_>; Oh well enough about that

Saber didn't really act like a woman and the game actively shipped him

with someone because of actual history so I am like anything goes amiright.

That explains a lot, no wonder things turned out like they did.

Other masters that I liked was Zheng Chenggong and his servant Archer but honestly

depending on the route Chenggong was like the least developed character in the game. Archer

was great but also underdeveloped which is sad cuz Chenggong and Archer had good chemistry

and were voiced by Maeno Tomoaki and Ono Kensho! too bad plot was rude to them.

I didn't really like Chiemon but Okamoto Nobuhiko did a good job voicing him

and making him really intimidating. His servant was eh... fitting to say the least and despite

not liking him I understand why he did what he did, he's had it up to here like fuck dis shit

meanwhile Lancer is like please accept my affection you are worthy of love and Chiemon

is like no but she will follow him to the depths of hell anyways. How bittersweet.

Takao Dayu was okay but I generally am generally mixed about Yui Shousetsu

who even after the snek route I still feel indiffirent about, mostly cuz they were lowkey

giving shipping fuel at the end but also did nothing with it.

Also this game went too far back with history so some things were lost on me like

Iori's servant saber real identity and everything related to him. I had to google some names

and god I nearly cried like oh no, no no since they sticked to the facts.

A servant even joked about it that it is okay if you don't know who he was... lmao.

 

Literally half of this game in a nutshell.

The story and pacing was pretty slow but had it been any faster I would be overwhelmed?

so I am actually somewhat glad they took their time and I could re-familiarize myself

with the fate universe but I will admit that it felt like it was dragging itself out

and the characters had no idea wtf they were doing or someone got in the way

and oh damn gotta go back to base cuz tired and hungry.

Saber is a glutton...

Fate Samurai Remnant was like a game of cat and mouse and while at times fun

and interesting it ultimately overstayed its welcome and I didn't even enjoy the

final chapter, at this point I was about done with the last minute shenanigans.

Moving on the first playthrough ending only brought a sense of relief that it was over

it didn't really wrap itself up properly only setting the player up for round 2.

Well honestly by this point I was like uh what in the fresh hell? it took me 30+ hours

and I don't even get a decent epilogue and yet you want me to play it again?

Ok sure but give me five to recharge. I realized that at this point the only thing I really

liked was the general turn of events and of course the characters. Except

Chiemon&lightning horse. These two got on my nerves so much I kid you not!

Anyway there were plenty of fun character interactions and the story was unpredictable

that you wouldn't know what was really going on which I really liked kept things interesting.

Also because I know fate already I knew who Boss was but in this game he was a rather annoying

side charactter and mostly used as comic relief, I remember he was a bit stuck up

in the anime series by ufotable but not as bad as in this game.😂

Woah hey there greg, no spoilers please!

TL;DR

Its a good game if you like to be challenged by the gameplay and if not there's always the newly

added easy difficulty so you can just enjoy the story and the like without worrying of performing well.

Iori did not have much of a personality and most of the other cast just stood out to me

more than the protagonist itself including Iori's servant Saber.

I did like the story,characters and the unpredictability of it all while exploring old-timey japan

and the game had a good sense of humor but yea I just have a few gripes with it all.

Iori definitely grew stronger but everytime I faced enemies with shields it seems like that wasn't

the case. By the end of the game I was kinda done with the recycled enemies, there's NG+ exclusive

mobs but they are just supersized versions. I think occasionally enemies with shields are fine

but not every boss-like enemy. I wanted to like Fate/Samurai remnant more but yea...

I think I liked more than enough and it just kinda overstayed it welcome.

Dodging or countering was the only thing I felt like I was good at, breaking shields was a chore.

Still had shields not been there battles wouldn't last as long either maybe it is ok after all.

While I played on normal I briefly lowered the difficulty for NG+ but realized

it became too easy and actually switched back since I kinda missed the thrill of the fights.

((What am I doing to myself?!))

Me after every single battle.

I guess this post is kinda long but this game was long which just leads me to ramble

about the characters a bit and this was only the opening section, whoops.

It may seem like I am kinda mixed and perhaps I am... but it was still

an okay game with a good story and cast, over and out.

 7/10

 

More rambles after the jump i'll just be talking a bit more about the gameplay experience

and characters but the above should be good enough of a TL;DR.

You can skip to my final thoughts to get another gist I guess?

Atleast he was self-aware.

The combat was pretty fluid and its very obvious Iori is generally weaker than Saber or other

servants but playing as him was still okay once you realize that you gotta focus on dodging and counters while co-operating with Saber or another servant that tagged along. That is basically

the key to victory but there are times Iori is alone but can handle himself to some degree!

I played on the standard difficulty but remember difficulty selection is there

 for a reason so if it is too hard then lower it or the other way around if that is your thing.

I will admit by the time I unlocked the void stance the combat grew on me

but switching stances to find the right one for each moment was still hard for me

so all of the gripes I had with it remained cuz playing as Iori still felt limited.

Also keeping a fair  stock of healing items/food is recommended and focusing on

counters/affinity attacks is helpful to get through any fight especially the last one.

He's only nice so he can understand you, so he can kill you if need be. Yes you read that right.

 

Now for the next thing and its called spirit fonts which is another one of my dislikes

since it kind of disrupted the flow of the game for me.  Be sure to keep a save before

you attempt any spirit font (preferable in a separate slot) cuz it is a timelimited

RTS board game thing with occasional battles. I wished they weren't a thing

it all felt extremely cheap and made Edo feel even more disjointed than

when you freely move through the towns that make up edo as a whole.

Early on everytime I had to do one of these I had to get adjust my headspace.

You basically have to capture leylines for buffs like the camps from dynasty warriors

or something as it all just felt like they were padding out the game with this part. >_>;

 

 One thing to note is that Iori and Saber are the only playables and the rest are all temporary units

till you do all of their digressions which unlocks their full potential as well as a super move.

This is actually a huge let down and for some reason I expected the rogue servant

or others to actually join the party and be fully playable. Alas it is not like that

and they actually went and made it lore appropiate for why they couldn't join.

 

Rogue's while masterless still can't move too far from their turf they're sort of chained to a leyline

which is their power source and if they move too far they get weak. Its like an anchor

that binds them to this world. Also servants in general are too powerful and would make it

too easy so its easy to understand why it is the way it is.

There are oddly enough a few exceptions like rogue berserker and R!saber

so I still was like well why not just make them party members instead that you

can freely choose since they were already there fighting with you anyways.

It also doesn't make sense how at times the plot would dictate to play as Saber

or Musashi full time yet if we are Iori we only had like what a few minutes? come on now.

I am sorry but that is just bad game design to force the player to play as the protagonist

cuz he wants to fight to prove his worth. To make matters worse  playing as Iori was generally

a pain to play especially early on since his damage is tiny and you have to use servant skills

or switch to them to literally do anything because Iori himself can't break the shields which is

what actually dragged a lot of fights on. Iori can use magic buuut it is also limited and you

need gems to use them. Firebird spell is actually OP but go figure you can't just spam it.

I do recommend to invest in earth stance because it will make your

experience a lot better instead of like every attack bouncing off. >_>;

Shields aside though combat was good... its just not fun to play as Iori all the time

especially as you keep getting rogue servants to join up with you.

Said servants were actually fun to play too, ok maybe some didn't suit me but its just

such a damn shame to have them be so limited in a musou meets souls like game.

The december update added a bandaid so that we could atleast choose to play

as whoever we want during battle recollections. So I guess they listened to complaints!

 

The graphics were pretty good and the models and special effects were great.

I already said that I enjoyed exploring edo and they definitely went above and beyond

to try and capture the edo period in this game, even better than like a dragon ishin.

However I did notice sometimes the environment or rather the things it it looked kind of blurry.

I find it pretty funny they added the 3d models literally on some background CG like

it is some visual novel. Granted it did look nice or convincing since they were barely even moving.

Music was good and fit the theme and setting of the game, I have no complaints in that regard.

Actually this looks kinda nice but also made it obvious to me they couldn't

make 3d areas for everything but honestly this is pretty good.

Final thoughts!

Keep it off, you are beautiful.

 Honestly while I thought the story was really good as well as the character dynamics

I actually ended up hating the protagonist which is something that hasn't happened

in a long time. Yea I guess the message is anyone can have darkness in their hearts

and be tempted but really it felt like most of the endings were so halfed assed.

Like I could literally ship Yui x Iori in snek route but where is my epilogue???

cuz yea let's focus on Chenggong chatting Dorothea up like no ones business.

Rat route just ends like oh well uh yea that is it I guess welp?! The 3rd ending is a big yikes

it isn't even good, no that is a glorified bad ending. I get it, if Iori was born in the sengoku period

he would be having the time of his life but this is after that and war like that are a thing of the past.

My problem is, literally half this game Iori is portrayed like he wants what is best for edo

like protecting it, guy could literally become a guard but he is actually a maniac

not even better than the average ronin except Iori has like 666IQ.

What I did like about Iori is that he admitted that he was weak but then NG+

does a complete 180 on his personality and just completely ruined him for me

and actually made me like Clive Rossfield from FF16 even tho he wasn't much better.

I know Clive cared for Jill buuuut idk what Iori really thought about Kaya

which makes me really sad since its like his swords are a keepsake/remnant in the 3rd end.

 I really don't think Iori had much of a personality to begin with tbh, he just wants to be strong

but not be like the rest or is it? I definitely don't like suddenly having the MC

turn into the bad guy or throw away any principles I was believed he had.

I still like this game and it had a good story but the endings were kind of poorly done

and were missing something in each and every one of them. His blade remains insatiable?

yea sure or Kaya running in but no more narrative? oof.

Eitherway not my cup of tea as I felt like it was missing something.

Fate/Samurai Remnant is a pretty long game and early on it kind of tested my patience.

Wasn't the biggest fan of spirit font which killed the pacing entirely by briefly turning it into RTS.

Back on point while there was an overall plot going on it felt like most of the time especially

in the first few chapters Iori,Saber and allies were just fumbling in the dark and the only master

that was taking it seriously was Dorothea, by chapter 4 I got really invested and by that point

I even enjoyed the gameplay it just like got that good, idk if I got better at playing too but maybe?  Chiemon was one of those fuck dis shit characters and his seiyuu fitted him extremely well

but I didn't exactly like him. This game does tackle some heavy themes and probably has one of the most realistic depictions of yoshiwara and old timey edo in general. God.. a line of dialogue

saying a 10 year old died from consumption or woman in general there getting sick says a lot.

Takao Dayu wanting things to get better made her one of my favorite characters besides

Zheng Chenggong/Archer who I think is the most underdeveloped compared to Takao Dayu.

I don't really care about Yui, I honestly found her annoying and got on my nerves at the end

and her character never really shined till NG+ when I did Snake route. Both Yui and

Dorothea were characters that aren't fully explored in the initial rat route and just

benefited more from a second run aka the snake route.

Unfortunately Aria felt like a filler character and FSN Lancer felt like he was there

just to be a reference. Atleast Boss/Greg was funny but he also was like FSN Lancer

just more annoying.  Rogue archer/Arjuna was kind of just there too... I liked his design

but I didn't really get to know him at all, probably just another reference to something else.

Rogue Berserker probably was the most developed servant along with

Lightning horse Rider, caster or Rogue Saber.

Honestly most of the time I forgot this guy existed...

I will admit that this game as a whole grew on me and made me realize

why I even liked dynasty/samurai warrors or even sengoku basara in the first place

its the little history facts! even if it is romantized or has fantasy elements it is a fun way to get

to know a little piece of history. At the end of the day I liked most of the characters more than Iori.

In the beginning I did struggle since Iori is significantly weaker than any servant

that joins up with you but everything can seem limited from magic to switching to a servant.

This game is part musoum I expected a bit more freedom but they had to turn it into some weird

cross between musou and souls-like where you play as a gimped character most of the time

cuz if we could play as saber from the get go the hyperarmor would not be a problem.

I only really got the hang of things once I got the void stance but that is at the end of the game.

Iori do you really mean that? press X to doubt after the 3rd ending.

My favorite characters were Zheng Chenggong & his servant Archer, Takao Dayu, Chivalrous Saber.

My least favorites were Chiemon and Lightning horse(Raikou). Anyone else was just okay.

Oh and I ship Takeru&Tachibana! there wasn't any real romance except maybe Rogue Saber

 and Tomoe Gozen as their story was really touching as well as Dayu x R.Berserker.

Just when I was starting to see Yui x Iori the game never even did anything with it!!! ugh.

Phrasing.

 

Anyway despite my gripes I had a mostly good time with this game!

Aww yea babby's first souls-like game is under the belt!

I just don't like the way this game handles the endings, they had a really good one with snek

but they didn't even properly finish it I bet there won't even be a Yui episode where

she gets to punch Iori so hard he manages to see the light like he showed her. >_>;

I will end my ramblings here, hope you understand that while I liked a lot of things

I still feel mixed about the game overall.