This is probably going to be a very long complaint and critique, so bear with me here.
I'll probably change my mind after a while, but I'm too frustrated to care.
It's amazing that I'm using a fanfiction app to describe my opinion on a gacha game, but fuck it, if I regret it I'll delete this.
***********
Ladies and gentlemen! Fate Grand Order is finally over (probably) after ten years of a long, agonizing journey!
And what did I think of the ending and conclusion of the last saga of this game's story that makes me feel anger, sadness, anguish, and joy all at once?
A beautiful, big, well-made, and exciting cake that, after you chew all the components and ingredients, leaves you with a sour, shitty taste after your mind starts to return to normal after the wave of emotions.
After you've tasted a slice of cake, you start to have a different perspective on the happy moments you felt before.
I'll be completely honest and frank with you, my dear readers, I don't like endings with a bittersweet conclusion. In my opinion, I find those kinds of endings, no matter how well-made and beautiful they are, unacceptable.
To be completely honest, I prefer a sad or dramatic ending to the one Nasu created, but that's just my opinion.
Anyway, let's talk about the core issue, which is the ending of FGO (JP), which is already out on the internet for everyone to see and judge.
I won't say everything that happened in the ending because I'm still waiting for the translation of the ending to get more details about what happened, but from what I've seen, my opinion of what I'm going to write shouldn't change much.
As most of you probably know, Ritsuka Fujimaru and company are living inside a Lostbelt, which is Lostbelt Zero, created by that damned and wretched father of Olga in Fuyuki.
As revealed by Kirei in OC4, if Ritsuka ends Olga's father's project, everything that happened since the beginning of the game will be erased and reset to the year 2004, which is the year Fate/Zero ended the Fourth Holy Grail War.
I probably told you that I didn't want this kind of ending, that I wanted something different, but unfortunately I ignored the obvious signs (I wasn't looking at Mount Tai) that were scattered throughout the story.
I didn't want an ending that would nullify everything that happened, all the promises we made, after saving the UNIVERSE, AND HAVE AN ENDING THAT LEAVES MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS!!!
THIS KIND OF ENDING SHOULD BE USED IN A SEPARATE GAME, A VISUAL NOVEL, OR A MOVIE, NOT IN A GACHA GAME!!!
Yes. I know that Nasu's secret recipe for writing is to create endings that emphasize enjoying your unique life, the beauty of the journey, and blah blah blah, I'm very aware of that.
However, even though Nasu's other stories have these types of endings, he doesn't consistently follow them. In his other works, you see the character continuing their journey even after the ending!
The central problem with this ending of FGO is that after you get past the emotional phase, you start to see the plot holes scattered throughout.
For example: What happened to Abby, who was in Ritsuka's mind?
Why weren't most of the Foreigner Servants allowed to help Novum Chaldea?
And what about the plot of Arthur going after the Beast 666? A specialty that the man himself admitted he's still pursuing to this day?!
And what about Ritsuka's punishment that the archangel Metatron declared would happen AFTER the conclusion of Grand Order?
And most importantly, what happened to... Mash?! Is her life limited again or not? I'd say no, since everything that happened in the Solomon saga was erased, meaning Cath Palug's sacrifice no longer exists.
It's this kind of thing that frustrates me, and I can't look at this ending with a happy expression.
I won't even comment on what happened to Olga Marie because I'm furious with her conclusion, but I'll probably give my opinion after the translation arrive. (Nasu hates Olga Marie, nothing will change my mind about that)
Again. If you liked the ending and thought it was good, good for you, because I honestly have a more negative than positive opinion, and I want to be positive, but I can't feel positive after analyzing everything that happened.
Changing the subject. Do I want Nasu to return if FGO 2 or a part 3 happens? Hell No!!! I want that humanoid mushroom to go back to writing Tsukihime and leave FGO for someone else to write.
Do I want the possible new FGO saga to change the protagonist? Honestly... I don't even know how I'll feel if they do that, but the best I can say is that it will depend on how they do it.
Knowing the game's ending, will I stop playing FGO(NA)?
No. I'm too deep in this rabbit hole and I've spent too much of my money to stop playing because of the ending that frustrated me. However, you can be sure that I'll probably stop after I reach the end.
Will the ending of FGO affect my Fate stories from now on?
Yes. One hundred percent. In Fate/Star Rail I should use the game's ending as a reference or something else that I'm still thinking about.
My Fate x Bleach story won't be affected since I wrote that story long before the ending was announced.
However, my future Fate x DXD story will be affected since the idea I was going to use will have to be rewritten.
Finally, if I had to give my rating to this last FGO saga, it would be 8/10.
The reasons I'm giving it an 8/10 are the game's ending, which I'm obviously conflicted about, and what happened to Olga, which I can't quite accept.
Nasu really created a tragic character like her to have an unsatisfactory conclusion.
I heard there's going to be something at the end of the year, I'm not very hopeful, but I hope it's something good about the ending.
Anyway, changing to something funny and lighthearted.
As I said before, I'm planning to write Fate x DxD in the future (even more so after this ending, which is making me want to write this story even more now, just out of pure frustration).
I won't give a summary of the story because I'll have to rewrite everything, but I will say the Heroic Spirits that will appear: Mash (obviously), Olga Marie, Goetia (Lev), Morgan, Melusine (in a different way), Tamamo no Mae (because FGO ignored her too much), Lilith, Meta-Jeanne, Uesugi Kenshin, Okita Souji, Caster Artoria, and Britomart (I'm undecided about including these four in the story).
My biggest dilemma with this story is whether or not to turn Issei into a tomboy girl. I had this crazy and funny idea last month that I can't get out of my head. I think being a Fate fanboy has corrupted my mind too much.
(Here's a picture of Issei as a girl)
I could do the same treatment to Vali too, but I remembered that first, Ritsuka will have Melusine, who will practically be Albion's daughter, and he also has Lilith present, who is technically Vali's grandmother? I might be wrong about this, but I know they're both from the same family tree.
Knowing this, besides my idea that I'm planning about Melusine, I changed my mind and decided not to do anything different about Vali.
That being said, I'm going to hold a poll for you guys on whether you want Issei to be a girl or not. Obviously, if you want that, I'll have to change certain things in the story, but that's the least of it.
I'm also aware that many, many people dislike Issei (I honestly am indifferent to him).
I remember a DXD x God of War fanfic I read that put Issei in a torture chamber, making him suffer through many bizarre and messed-up things inside. The author described everything that happened so well that even the readers felt uncomfortable and felt sorry for the poor guy.
I also thought about removing Issei completely, but I also have to decide what to do with Ddraig since Issei won't be in the picture anymore, so that will be in the vote as well.
************
Change Issei's gender?
(Yes)
Or
(No)
Remove Issei from the story?
(Yes)
Or
(No)
************
I will announce the conclusion of the vote on the first day of the year, as that should be enough time for everyone to think and get enough votes.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a good experience on this FGO journey compared to mine, which isn't going very well.