[Fate/Grand Order] All-around Discussions v4

-Sherou- said:
Apparently his last ascension is locked behind LB6 completion, so if you wanna actually use his Howl's Moving Castle artwork, you'll need to actually get through the whole story

Genkii said:
My pp is not hard.

Hold for Summer!

Remove buffs from ally.
Inflict Eternal Sleep Status on ally (Cannot act, cannot sacrifice or order change, permanent, is not removed when attacked) [Unremovable].
Apply Target Focus to ally (3 turns) [Unremovable]

I rolled for NP2 Barghest and got NP4 Oberon. Why is my luck always great for rolling characters I don't care about orz

-Sherou- said:
Actually though, what is his appeal other than looking like Howl? I genuinely want to know.

Genkii said:
Here is my counter point to that:

It's been a week since the release of the Collapse Arc of Part 2, Chapter 6.
This has turned out to be the longest main chapter we've published so far.
Once again, allow me to thank all of the development staff at DelightWorks,
the creators who designed the Servants and drew the backgrounds,
and of course, the staff of TYPE-MOON who for the past 3 months were like, "We already knew this would happen, so what do you need us to do?" and still put their heart and soul into making this happen.
It's been a grand dream, and it couldn't have come true without every single one of you.

Now, then. Since it seems like many players have completed the story, I'll spill a bunch of details even if it might be a bit early.

First, I know you're probably asking why I'm calling it the Collapse Arc.
Chapter 6 was structured into three parts: the First Arc, Second Arc, and Collapse Arc.
During the stream right before the First Arc was released, it was compared to Kara no Kyoukai:

• First Arc: "Garan no Dou" from Kara no Kyoukai
• Second Arc: "Paradox Spiral" from Kara no Kyoukai
• Collapse Arc: "A Study in Murder (II)" from Kara no Kyoukai

...are what was meant by that. The supposed final boss also similarly left the stage in medias res.
We intended to focus our resources on making the Collapse Arc, but the First and Second Arcs ballooned in volume,
and we kept making more and more assets and stills for them until all three arcs grew to be impactful on their own.
Also, I figured it wouldn't hurt to turn to the guy (company president) sitting next to me, whose hands were already full with the main work, and say,

"I waNT BRidE poSES for Mash.
In TWO wEEks FRoM Now, IF yOU COuLD.
FOrGivE ME. foRgiVE mE. FoRgIVe me THE sInS OF kInoKo."

I sent that message using (physical) telepathy and in reply, he stunned me with entirely new portraits instead of just pose variations, and a huge amount of facial expressions too.

"Well, that worked...
Maybe I could ask for the three fairies and Mike, too...
I'll ask BLACK-san to do the trio, and Simoshi-kun to work on Bogard!
Oh yeah, I can ask Shimoshi-kun to squeeze in Mike, too! They designed Da Vinci, after all!"

And that's what we got.
In the plot, Mike was only to have a faceless mob fairy portrait, but I wanted him to leave more of an impression.
For Mike's design, I asked for "lines that make him feel like a mob even though he's not. He shouldn't stand out during the First Arc, but it'll be really meaningful during the Collapse."
Thank you, Shimoshi! I'm really looking forward to swimsuit Da Vinci-chan!

The musical score this time was nearly three times that of a typical main story chapter,
and KATE-kun fought until the very end to get that done.
"I'd like individualized battle themes for each Fairy Knight.
The ____ in the Collapse Arc should have an arrangement of that... speaking of which, ____ should get the complete version.
Try to think of the Fairy Knight battles as only the starting skirmishes."

"Hm, hm. The motifs of Lancelot and Gawain are easy enough to understand, but what about Tristan?"
"A girl's hysterical thoughts. A blood-drenched stage. A dance musical, a brilliant stage, the girl herself is hell, something like that. In the style of CCC's Alter Ego battles."
"Should I make ____'s theme orchestral since it's a boss battle?"
"You don't have to. It's supposed to be a girl's happy (dancing) dream, so it should be a cheerful melody with some tempo. The stage is part of the climax, so it should enrapture the audience and make them wish they were happy to have been born! Or something like that. Think like, the most exciting moment of your life. Even if it was all a dream."
"Oh, so that's why the stage spins round and round! I get it now! But can I say something? Why are you giving me such an awful job?"

By the way, speaking of the track "Land of Hope," it's actually the initial map theme that was submitted for Saber Wars 2.
When KATE-kun gave it to us, I thought it would be too perfect for the end of Chapter 6, so I said,

"I want to use this in Chapter 6, so please keep this one under wraps for now.
I think we should arrange it for Castoria's Noble Phantasm; give the players a taste of it so it'll sound familiar to them.
At the very very end, I want to use an emotional arrangement of it. Thanks."

And that's how, for the past 2 years, I've listening to "Land of Hope" and thinking about Spring Memories whenever I was moving around.
To me, that song is about seeking stars.

Okay, at this point people are going to start accusing me of rambling too much again, so I'll explain a bunch of trivia off the top of my head.

____ in the Garden of Lost Will
Regarding [the name of the imprisoned] in the Garden of Lost Will, the person that appears at the end is generally a person that you unconsciously feel is pointing out "the very hardest thing, the first thing that you yourself avoid confronting."
The Oberon that shows up at the end isn't the real one.

Vivian of Orkney
The leader of the Rain Clan recognized their sins and offered the Fairy of Paradise their love and affection.
These were Vivian's warm childhood days.
A dimly lit yet warm castle sunroom, where the rain never stops.
The girl dreamed of a fairytale-like kingdom where she had no duty to Avalon, where everyone could live in peace.

Caster of Avalon
Caster has no Spring Memories because, as the Fairy of Paradise, she had no fun memories to look back on. She wasn't allowed to have any.
But, Vivian might have experienced the same thing if she had returned to Paradise.
Still, Morgan had her memories of being lovingly raised in Orkney,
while Artoria had her memories of meeting her very first... traveling companions (friends), who had nothing to do with her duty as the Fairy of Paradise.

Oberon's Retrospection
The person narrating Oberon's origins in Verse 30 is A.A.
Oberon is the one talking during the parts about day and night, "can you understand how ~~~ feels?"
but the third-person narration afterward is A.A. after becoming the Guardian of the Holy Swords and learning everything about Britain.

The Star in the Hole
There's a scene in verse 30 about the Star in the Storm.
That was her final sprint, in the moment she vanished from the throne and became a Guardian.
"I've hit my goal if I just quit thinking and be a ____, right? If I keep trying, then they'll keep me working forever and ever, won't they?"
It's the choice she made after asking herself that question.
And the result, as you can see, was space-time jumping shenanigans.

Merlin
If this guy ever teaches you magic, it'll only be in your dreams.
I know this sounds cruel, but to Merlin, the only Artoria is the King of Knights.

About those red-colored choices
It isn't the case that either one of the answers is correct.
I don't think it's good to have a big schism where the reader keeps noticing things that the protagonist doesn't.
So, all I did was make your choices have a tangible result in the end, if earlier in the story you thought, "wait, that doesn't sound right" or "that's not really it, is it?".
I colored them red to make that easier to understand, but I picked the color red to make it a bit more ominous, too...

Oberon's Final Readvent
I also leveled Oberon up to his final form last night, and I had them stop the ascension fanfare from playing while he says his line. I think the late-night update on the 11th patched that in.
"More importantly, why does my flavor text suddenly change after bond 6? Why, I wonder? Why do you think? Make sure you read the prince's flavor text before then, okay?☆"

By the way, regarding his remarks to Nursery Rhyme:
With a smile, he offers, "After those ____ and readers are gone, why don't we find a nice, quiet world where everyone's perspective is equally important, and have a tea party together?"
To which she gently smiles and declares, "I'm so sorry, my wonderful prince. But, I love to see all of our readers radiant and happy."
As he watches her turn to leave, he would reply "yeah, go figure" with a sardonic laugh and narrowed eyes.

Some final notes on the chronology

1000 B.C.
A Returned A-Ray is born among the Fang Clan - Wryneck the Brave, inheritor of organs of the waste heat of the planet.

800 B.C.
Tonelico fights and triumphs over Waste Heat Lord Wryneck. They become fast friends.
Henceforth, Wryneck does not accompany Tonelico on her adventures due to his position as the Chief of the Fang Clan, but does everything he can to help her from behind the scenes.
He rationalizes it as, "I can never accept the mission of the Fairy of Paradise, but I'm fond of Tonelico's strength." (To Ector, his feelings are as clear as day)


400 B.C.
The fabled Arbitration, one day before the coronation at Londinium.
In attendance are Uther, Tonelico, Ector, Grimm, and the First Fairy Knight.
Wryneck can't stand Uther (for obvious reasons) and refuses to attend the coronation. Instead, he goes off to hunt Mors on the western coast.

"But... even if I send a delegate, it would be poor form if the Fang Lord didn't show up, wouldn't it..."

On the dawn of Coronation Day, Wryneck reluctantly makes up his mind to return to Londinium.
Everything is over by the time he arrives.
Politics prevent Wryneck from defending Tonelico as all of the fairies accuse her. Wryneck comes to agonize over his decision for the rest of his life into the Queen's Era.

"Maybe if I had been there, things would have been different...
...No. Nothing would have changed. Nothing at all.
I, a fairy of Britain, could never have saved Tonelico."

1000 A.D.
The Great Calamity, the Mors Campaign, begins.
Aged Wryneck takes to the battlefield, his resolve grim.
"Begone, King of the Mors. This is her nation, the land she suffered so much to build. I'll never let you take it from her."

So falls the greatest of the Fang Clan, clearing the way for the next generation.