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Alright, bear with me, visual novel readers: how good is the original visual novel compared to the anime adaptations?

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Sep 20, 2022 9:03 PM
#1

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Jul 2020
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I’ve seen Unlimited Blade Works out of all the Stay/Night adaptations and I liked it, but there are various problems I had with it, and I heard the visual novel was considerably better than the anime adaptations, so how good is the visual novel compared to the anime adaptations, really, and should I try it out?

It's hard to win an argument against smart people, but impossible to win an argument against dumb ones.
Sep 20, 2022 11:15 PM
#2

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Aug 2020
207
Yes. Fate route is a bit of a slog I guess because it suffers from being the tutorial route and shirou is kinda the lamest there at least if you know how he is going to be in the next two routes. UBW adaptation was actually very good it just decided to be a bit too subtle with the details and characterization, the visual novel makes no decision like that. It will hammer its message into the reader very straightforwardly. Heaven's feel will be the one that benefits the most from being read as the movies are a garbage negative sum game because of a director who thought it a good idea to cut out the side characters' development for more sakura except in the end the sakura romance got butchered too. They did nothing for what should be the climax of the themes of the story instead deciding to do a 6+ minute fight scene for salter vs rider, a fight with zero thematic significance but clearly they cared more to draw flashy visual effects than to tell the story properly unlike what they did in UBW.
Sep 20, 2022 11:26 PM
#3

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Jun 2016
12771
Visual novel has tiger dojo. Tiger dojo makes everything better.
MEA·MENTVLA·INGENS·EST
Sep 21, 2022 12:04 AM
#4
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Feb 2021
749
UBW in the anime is dogshit, it basically cut all the story to present only the action. Heaven’s Feel of course is also cut a lot, but it still does a really good job. The Fate Route is known to be a mess in the anime of course
Sep 21, 2022 12:37 AM
#5

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Jul 2021
180
anyone who has put the time commitment into this visual novel, including myself, will tell you that it's plainly just a better fucking story than anything you'll find in the anime alone. all of the twists and turns and character depth is built up much more powerfully.

it's just better. if you're considering reading it you're already going further than most people who refuse to 'because they don't like reading' or '100hrs is too long' (think of it like a video game to progress through, and that time disappears very quick). so really, i would say do yourself the favour and take the plunge :))
3loomingSep 21, 2022 12:41 AM
-- art-house/psychological/stylish/philosophical anime enjoyer with yuri bias and the attention span of a smol-antlered creature --
Sep 21, 2022 1:03 AM
#6

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Mar 2020
1016
SmashBlack said:
I’ve seen Unlimited Blade Works out of all the Stay/Night adaptations and I liked it, but there are various problems I had with it, and I heard the visual novel was considerably better than the anime adaptations, so how good is the visual novel compared to the anime adaptations, really, and should I try it out?

The VN is better. Shirou's characterisation is the most obvious loss going from VN to anime (as his inner monologue shows more of his characterisation than the anime can) but in general more detail is given to everything to make sure the reader understands (almost to a detriment, considering how often Rin goes on these long exposition dumps) and some of the later scenes of HF are much better handled in the VN than the anime because of time constraints not really being an issue in a VN.

TL;DR: the vn is the best way to experience Fate, the anime can be good enough, but if you want to get the best out of Fate, read the VN.

Sep 21, 2022 4:50 AM
#7

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Jan 2020
283
SmashBlack said:
I’ve seen Unlimited Blade Works out of all the Stay/Night adaptations and I liked it, but there are various problems I had with it, and I heard the visual novel was considerably better than the anime adaptations, so how good is the visual novel compared to the anime adaptations, really, and should I try it out?

If a manga generally expands like 2x as much on character development and overall story beats vs it's anime adaptation. Then a VN expands 5x as much on average, and FSN absolutely falls into that. All 3 routes are BETTER in the VN and I say that while loving the anime adaptations 👍
Sep 21, 2022 9:00 AM
#8
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Nov 2021
53
I watched all three fate stay night adaptations and I just got a ps2 to play the VN because I hear it's better and I'm looking forward to reading it
Sep 21, 2022 6:39 PM
#9
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Jun 2021
286
well not lets see
Anime makes Shirou look like a prick except in heaven's feel
VN makes Shirou look like he deserves to be locked up in a mental asylum
Heaven's Feel 3 also completely butchered the climax of Heaven's Feel which was Shirou vs Kotomine Kirei. In the movie it's like 2 minutes, in the VN it's a half hour psychological slugfest.
-"I like Kotomine Kirei" -Shirou Emiya, 2004
Sep 22, 2022 10:01 AM
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Oct 2021
14
The VN is way better than any anime adaption. The music, voice acting, and general pace is incredible. You also get all of Shirou’s internal monologue you miss in the anime. Which is key to understanding his character development and how he changes across all 3 routes. I also recommend it 100% even if it is a 2-3 hour headache to install.
Dec 7, 2022 10:41 PM

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Oct 2012
1074
It hard to read the Visual Novel when its not localized/ never got a steam/ western release and prob never will. Type moon needs to do that and re animate the Saber/ Fate Arc for fucks sake man how hard is it.
Dec 14, 2022 5:56 PM

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Aug 2020
7669
They tend to make the first three days faster, since it's the usual until Archer v Lancer.

There are also some extra depth in dialogues and better explanations in VN.

I prefer it all the way, even though I like the adaptations.

Dec 14, 2022 5:59 PM

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Aug 2020
7669
BigMoby99 said:
The VN is way better than any anime adaption. The music, voice acting, and general pace is incredible. You also get all of Shirou’s internal monologue you miss in the anime. Which is key to understanding his character development and how he changes across all 3 routes. I also recommend it 100% even if it is a 2-3 hour headache to install.

Emiya's mind soliloques create another character, more human and relatable in a way Ufotable couldn't do. Especially due to time and plot.

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