Sire

Decided to submit an entry on a whim. Not sure if it'll qualify since only about half it it is actually a dream sequence, but here it is anyway. -- I think I wrote this with about eight hours of active work over a course of a day, split into 4 hour segments. -- Sorta not completely happy with how the 2nd half of the story turned out, especially the fight sequence, but it is what it is. My old RWBY works had better fights... Title: Of Knights and Nightmares -- Notes: Contains Action, Violence, and minor Blood.

Man, this seems like one of those events where having Double Skadi would work wonders. However, as I don't have Skadi, I'm stuck with compositions that take 4-6 turns to clear a node instead of a simple 3 turn clear. -- I've been mostly been using Bronze and Silver Apples as I'm saving my ~120 Golds for the Christmas Lotto. I'm likely to farm the Raid Event with Silvers for the sake of simplicity as I don't want to farm separate nodes constantly for the shop. Also, my QP is around 110k and I could use a buffer before the resupply comes in during the Christmas Lotto. As for my current setups for farming... -- For the Food Court, I tried my version of the Skadi NP Loop. I used Arash to nuke the first wave, buffed up NP1 Atalante (Event CE) for the 2nd wave and fired the NP, and then hope for RNG and crits for the 3rd wave so she could fire off her NP again. On average I cleared it in about 6 turns, which was faster than my other setups. -- On the Mirrors, I used Lancer Alter and Jalter Santa Lilly with Double Wavers. I would slowly grind out the first wave to make sure the two NP's were charged and then NP the 2nd and 3rd waves. This usually ended up around 5 turns. -- Current plan for the Raid is to use Kintoki Rider and Caster Shuten, with Skadi and Waver, and see how far they can go with their DMG CEs. Caster Shuten is useful since she has 50% NP charge for the event and an Anti-Demonic skill, and the raid boss is Demonic. Not sure if I can clear the 2.5 Million HP reliably with +360% DMG UP, so when the raid starts I'll just have to figure out how everything works and roll with that.

Survivability isn't an issue when you can nuke waves with AoE NPs, but I mainly used Okita Alter when dealing with Berserker/Assassin waves. Raikou was more for Assassin/Caster matches. Although that does explain why my Ishtar kept getting targeted by the the enemy... * * EDIT * * Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention I dusted off my Orion to handle Sigurd. I thought about bringing Euryale, but since Sigurd has Mental Debuff Immunity (or resistance), her charms won't really be effective there. -- Only time I used Orion, otherwise I tend to use Kuro as my Single-Target Archer.

Finally finished my journey to clear all the story arcs as I just completed LB2 (and just in time for the event). To think I started this in early September with finishing Shinjuku, and then I went on to clear the rest of EoR and LB 1&2. Good thing I have an excellent support list and a well built roster of older Servants! Overall, I loved LB2. It helps I'm a sucker for Valkyries and actions of the MC made sense and kept me immersed (save for two points, but it worked out for the greater narrative). It is definitely one of the better ones, but is still nowhere near the masterpieces of Camelot and Babylonia. Sigurd and Bryn were great, the Valkyrie Trio were great, Napoleon was awesome, and seeing Skaldi in the story makes me want to roll for her more (and I could use one of my own, even though Waver is the excellent all-rounder). -- Also, that ending. That is how its done. One hop can break a man... MVPs were the supports who helped me along the way, Okita Alter and Mama Raikou. Having AoE NPs and effective damage does wonders for clearing out waves of enemies. It makes me want to get an AoE Alter Ego of my own since dealing with the "Horseman" classes (Rider, Assassin, Caster) is easier when you can wipe them all at once if there's a mixed wave, instead of only being effective against one. -- My own Lvl 90 Summer Scathach helped a lot with wave clearing the Rider Valkyries, while my NP 2 Artoria handled the Valkyrie Sisters. Sure. she was max bond, but losing out on some bond points for an easier fight is fine. I think my Herc insurance only came in handy once, otherwise almost any other servant on the back line would've been fine. As a random aside, potential speculation on the future of the Lost Belts. Spoilers on a future plot point. * * * * * Whew, so yeah, that's done. Now to wait for the next event and stuff so I can start clearing out the backlog of Interludes and Rank Up quests for my other Servants...

A track from the Fate fangame, Fate/Empire of Dirt.

My first run is almost always male, but I do enjoy playing as female Avatars as well. Female Avatars tend to get the better outfits when I feel like messing around with fashion and cosmetics (or at least I put more thought into mixing and matching stuff instead of just wearing a default set that looks cool.) -- The main/completionist run also tends to be male, although there has been exceptions (Fates: Conquest was female Corrin since she is more affiliated with Nohr., WoW Classic has a Female Human Mage since mages are easier to level, compared to my original mains of Human Male Paladin and Female Blood Elf Death Knight). In short, I use both, although the one I use more are the Male Avatars.

Replies in spoilers since its story related.

Still on LB 1, Anastasia. Specifically, Chapter 13. -- It's been enjoyable so far, but there are definitely moments that take the immersion out from me. --- There was more examples of "I wouldn't do/say that," even though Gudao is his own character. You can't save everyone, buddy. --- I completely annihilated the Chapter 13 encounter with Mama Raikou and Rider Kintoki (2 turn encounter), but the story says otherwise. Classic gameplay/story segregation... --- Also, Paxti. I liked him initially, but then they started moving his character arc in a different direction. So far it seems a bit predictable what will happen, but I guess I'll have to wait to find out for myself. So, at this halfway point or so and it's an average story arc. Granted, most of the hype stuff typically happens near the end so my opinion may change by then, but I'm currently leaning towards the EoR stories (barring one) being better than LB 1. * * * * * EDIT * * * * * Currently on the final chapter of LB 1. I would wait until I actually finished it, but I needs sleeps and to write this out before I do so. This one is going in spoilers. -- The short version, a decent story ruined by immersion breakers. I'm leaning even more towards EoR having better stories than LB 1... As an aside, Dual MHX with Kerry was fun in taking down the big boss. Mama Raikou handled most of the normal battles, while Double Jalter + Waver easily handled another boss. * * * * * EDIT 2 * * * * * Finally finished everything. More thoughts in the spoiler below. -- In short, in the end I was not a fan of LB 1. While it has its moments, some of the stunts it pulls completely ruins the story for me, even though I know what they were trying to go for. -- In another manner, the ending pissed me off. Seriously, that's how they are gonna do this? It did not resonate with me at all... Iskander [Support], Rider Kinotiki, and Maid Alter assassinated the Duchess, with advisement from Waver. Let the real boys and girls handle defending Proper Human History. Ionioi Hetairoi! -- Maid Alter fired the last shot. which felt great as it seems I rarely have the chance to field Rider servants. Seriously, there are far more Assassin enemies to deal with than Casters... Shiki got the killing blow on a tree, with some help from Support Gramps (First Hassan). MHX and Kerry also helped out. - - - - - - - - - Man, after that wild ride of Lost Belt 1, I sincerely hope the other Lost Belts are better. The storytelling in LB 1 isn't bad, it's just that it does not resonate with me at all. I'm actively yelling at the protagonist instead of cheering for him. I didn't care about Kadoc's grand ambitions or how he was "two steps ahead," because I knew we could counter his moves. -- In other words, the overall story was decent. It just wasn't for me.

Finished Salem. It's definitely one of the better stories, but I'm debating if I liked it better than Shinjuku. I guess if I had to compare them, Salem was great overall, but Shinjuku had better hype moments. In other words, Salem is mostly consistent while Shinjuku has its highs and lows (and Shinjuku's highs are better). -- I was expecting a bit more of the horror aspect for Salem for some reason, but all that was remotely scary were the hanging sequences and the shrouded reveal of the big bad. Oh, and maybe the sound effects of one of the monsters. -- I loved the Servant interactions, each and every Servant present had screen time as well as their own "personal moments." Definitely a highlight of this story arc. -- My only gripe is that I was so invested in the ongoing story that I disliked some of the character options Gudao is presented with, saying "I wouldn't do that!" Granted, I was more in "self-insert" mode instead of treating Gudao as a character this chapter, but I was that much invested in it. -- Also, Salem's battle music is hype. I loved it. Overall, I would probably rank the Epic of Remnant chapters like... Shinjuku = Salem > Shimousa >>> Agartha * * * * * Whew, EoR is now done, and now its onto the Lost Belts proper! I'm gonna go through the Prologue again in the archives to set the scene, and then its to LB 1. Now we get back to "20 Sections" worth of story instead of like "10-16."

Finally finished Shimousa. Overall, it was pretty great and I enjoyed it immensely! -- My one major complaint is that it takes a while to get going, and the slow start did not help my initial impressions (especially after finishing Agartha). However, once the story started moving, it became much more enjoyable. -- I also believe it may be the first story to reference the Lost Belt arc which would happen down the line, or at least that's why I got during the ending scenes. Now, onto Salem. Apparently it just have 10 chapters so I expect to finish it relatively quickly, and then I can get to the Lost Belts themselves. I may end up rewatching the prologue events in the archives to refresh my memories.

Finally finished 100 missions for the Halloween event. The CQ was easy with a support Tamamo Lancer (Scathach, Waver, Tamamo Lancer Support), and managed to beat it in 9 turns with some RNG manipulation. -- Essentially, I burned down the first bar with normal attacks and crits, with NPs dealing with the 2nd and 3rd bars. -- I had a Herc in the backline for insurance, but since I reset the turn if one of my Lancers died, I didn't need him. -- I managed to invincible the Archer's NP after delaying him with Waver and other CC effects. However, I didn't clear out the shop. Probably not going to do so since I need to blast through story mode so I can finish LB2 before the next event. - Man, I need a time machine so I can get everything done. Time Manipulation superpowers when?

Sometime I miss Hyrule: Total War, now known as Hyrule: Conquest. I haven't checked on it in a long while, wonder what's been going on over there...