If you have been a fan of anime for quite some time, chances are, you've already heard of the Fate Series. It is a franchise with a massive fan base around the world that was originally an eroge visual novel (if you don't know what eroge is, then good for you) created by TYPE-MOON. If you want to know more about the franchise then check out the titles under it here.
Recently I stumbled upon this article and was surprised about the franchise's accomplishment. I am well aware that it is popular worldwide but not to this extent. Who would have thought that an eroge visual novel would come this far?The world sure is full of surprises.
Let's now get back to our question, "Is Fate/ Grand Order the best anime game on mobile?". Well let's take a look at the rankings first.
Looking at these rankings alone, we can already have our answer on our question, that is if we are looking at financial success alone. One can say that the game is insanely popular, it has been topping Japan's charts ever since its release on July 29, 2015 for Android and August 12, 2015 for iOS. Its English version was later released worldwide (initially NA only) on June 25, 2017 for both Android and iOS further increasing its influence.
So what made Fate/ Grand Order a commercial success?
Gameplay
Fate/Grand Order is a turn-based tactical RPG. The player controls "Servants" to defeat enemies and clear a stage. In a single run, one can bring a maximum of 6 servants (5 owned servants and 1 friend servant). Each servant can also be equipped with 1 "Craft Essence" that gives additional stats and effects.
There are 7 regular classes of servants (Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin and Berserker) and 7 extra classes (Shielder, Ruler, Avenger, Moon Cancer, Alter Ego, Beast and Foreigner). Their classes acts like the element type in Pokemon making some classes stronger/ weaker against the other. Check the illustration below to know the relationship between each class.
Now we've got most of the basic knowledge down, let's now look at the actual battle scenario. Even though one can bring 6 servants at most, only 3 of them can participate at a time and the other 3 serve as sub-members that will replace a servant that has fallen in battle. Each turn, 5 cards will be dealt to the player and out of those, the player must choose 3 cards to play. There are 3 different variety of cards, the red ones are called "Buster" that deals the highest damage but doesn't generate critical stars nor fill up the "Noble Phantasm (NP)" gauge. The green ones are called "Quick" and they generate a lot of critical stars and slightly fill up the NP gauge. The blue ones are called "Arts" and they fill up the NP gauge the most and also generate little bit of critical stars.
One can make an attack chain by carefully picking the cards which increases the effect of the cards. First type of chain is when one successfully picked 3 cards with the same color, the second one is when one picked 3 cards that belongs to the same servant and the last one is when one chose 3 cards with the same color and at the same time belongs to the same servant.
Then we have the "Noble Phantasm" cards, special attacks that varies per servant, that only activates after the NP gauge located below the character's hp reached at least 100% (it can reach up to 300% and significantly strengthens the effect of the attack). And last, we have "Command Spells" that can be used 3 times a day but recharges on a rate of 1 spell per day, so using it wisely is advised.
I guess that sums it up for the gameplay. Based on what I've said and the picture above, the gameplay of Fate/ Grand Order seems kind of... lackluster? I am not saying it is bad, but you know, for a game that has been on the top of charts lately one may not help but think how did it manage to get there. And surely gameplay wise there are a myriad of other titles that most people can agree to offer a better experience than what Fate/ Grand Order does. This is coming from a guy playing it by the way so I am not doing this out of hate.
So how did Fate/ Grand Order really managed to get there? Well I have given it some thought and came up with these answers:
1. The lore
I think this doesn't apply to this particular game only, but also to the entirety of the franchise. To those who are clueless about Fate Series it is about a war that is fought between magi that summons familiars called Servants. However those servants are no ordinary familiars, they are heroes that are based off real life heroes, heroes from myths and ancient stories and even prominent people like kings and queens.
That is, for me, one of the best premise I have seen to date. Imagine all those powerful heroes duking it out in the ultimate battle royale. Scheming, teaming-up, betrayal is the name of the game. It is no mere battle of power, it is also a battle of wits and it is thrilling to see how things will unfold.
However a single war won't suffice for an online game that is expected to run for years, so some things have been changed to accommodate online gaming experience. So instead of a war between magi, they made a single enemy for the players to fight. Of course the whole thing about servants and masters still remained but instead of having a war, the players are to correct irregularities in the history of mankind called Singularities. Each singularity offers unique experience and different kinds of twists that makes it more enjoyable. It is like touring the world during those olden times that somehow makes me want to read the stories and learn more about the heroes featured in the game.
2. The game is fun
This game is communicating with the players. It makes in game jokes about otaku culture and even about its own characters. It is really entertaining to read the character interactions and at times I even burst out into laughter because of how well they deliver their jokes. This is a game that knows their customers really well to put it simply.
3. The community
The game is popular because the franchise is popular. Fate series, as I said earlier is already very popular long before Fate/ Grand Order came to existence. It started as a visual novel that branched into different types of media like anime, manga, light novels and video games.
It has a solid following evidenced by the number of pages dedicated to it and its characters. Even artists community like pixiv features a whole lot of fan arts based on the characters of series not to mention the number of doujinshis published about it competes directly against big titles like Kantai Collection and Tohou Project.
So what does it entail? People are playing this because it is popular? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Maybe we are way past the point where games are played for story and gameplay alone, we are in the age where internet is integrated into most of our daily functions gaming included so it may not come as a surprise that people are seeking a place where they can belong to in the vastness of this world that has been connected by the internet.
Conclusion
I have been putting this off for quite a while now and you must be losing your temper by now lol. But let's finally answer the question, "Is Fate/ Grand Order the best anime game on mobile?". Honestly I don't know (dick move detected), I mean how can one be called the best? Based on number of players? Based on amount of income generated? Based on gameplay? Based on storyline? The topic of "best" in the first place is a dodgy one for me because no matter what one does, bias still takes effect despite trying to be as objective as possible otherwise we wouldn't have different kinds of rankings in the first place. Not just because a thing has been considered "best" by majority doesn't mean it is the best for everyone, let's just accept that what one enjoyed won't necessarily be enjoyed by another.
You might be wondering why I turned this into a rant of all things. The thing is I encountered some people that showed deep hate for the game recently, I don't know if they are serious or just being trolls though, but the way they attacked the game just got me worked up. I can understand not liking it and voicing out one's opinions but there's a limit to being a douche even in the internet.
I apologize for making this wall of text that has a misleading title (again). With that I will be leaving you with this message: "Play what you want and pay no heed to the hate, as long as you're enjoying what you're doing then you're doing it right. Game on!".
Ciao~