Everything We Know So Far On This Remake

Type-Moon Studio BB held a special stream for the 10th anniversary of Fate/Extra on July 22, a few hours after thefull remake Fate/Extra Record (tentative title) was announced. The stream was MC’ed by seiyuu (and Gundam EXVS top player) Kana Ueda, using the appearance of her Nasuverse character Rin Tohsaka. Type-Moon Studio BB Director Kazuya Niinou was also present, voice only. We learned many details on the remake including how the battle system works, with live gameplay. Here’s a summary of everything we learned on stream.

First off, Kana Ueda started reading fan comments from Twitter, with Director Niinou answering and commenting. He most notably confirmed the protagonist, Hakuno Kishinami, male and female versions, will be voiced in the remake. Players who feel like games are more immersive when the protagonist is silent will be able to turn off their voices in the options.

Niinou also said he wants to make the remake fully-voiced, but he’s not sure yet if it’ll be possible.

Judging from the stream as a whole, the remake is far from complete to do and the remake won’t be launching soon.

Niinou can’t comment on the remake’s platforms yet. But he reminded us he’s been saying for a while he wants to bring the game to as many people as possible. So he’s not ruling out a Steam release.

Next, we got the result of the poll that was held for a few hours before the stream started on Twitter. 57,318 votes were gathered:

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アンケート実施中！
「Fate/EXTRAをプレイしたことはありますか？」
最終結果は本日20時からの生放送にて発表します。
回答は7月22日 18時まで
回答お待ちしております。

『Fate/EXTRA』シリーズ10周年記念生放送ご視聴はこちらhttps://t.co/zNaFm0RCm0#TMstudioBB

— TYPE-MOON studio BB (@TMBBOfficial) July 22, 2020

48.1% voters played the original, 17.2% only watched the anime adaptation, 29.7% only know the characters, and 5.0% never heard of Fate/Extra. Director Niinou said less people than he expected played the original, but he’s still happy overall. A lot of voters on Twitter mentioned they technically didn’t play Fate/Extra but did play its sequel Fate/Extra CCC.

After that, when quickly mentioning Fate/Extella and its sequel Fate/Extella Link, Director Niinou said it’s unlikely they’ll add some of the new characters appearing in these two action games to the Fate/Extra Record remake. Such as Charlemagne.

Starting the 32:40 mark, the stream started focusing specifically on Fate/Extra Record.

Kazuya Niinou explained Fate/Extra Record is based on three concepts, plus another concept. First off, it’s simply to answer the call of fans who wish to play the game again, and of those who didn’t have the chance to play it, only knowing the characters through FGO, etc.

The second concept: when they first talked about this remake, they had to decide between making a typical mobile game that’d reach a very large base of players, or a firm & traditional console game. They decided on the later. This remake is made to answer those who want a firm console Fate game. This will also allow them to do what they couldn’t with the original game, without changing the core of the game either.

Aruko Wada also made a brand new key visual for the remake, and it also reflects how it keeps the original’s core: Redsaber has a serious and cool expression on it, because she was originally that type of character. Even if nowadays her appearances makes her focus much more on comedy and cute. Her seiyuu Sakura Tange also said she’s used to voicing Redsaber in a cute way nowadays, so it feels weird voicing a serious version again.

The third concept behind the Fate/Extra Remake is to have a game that makes it easy for newcomers to get into the franchise with. Nowadays the Fate franchise is huge, so this remake will be the perfect place to start for those who don’t know about stuff like Servants, etc. (Personally, I’d simply suggest just watching/playing everything by release order. Most of the time this is the simplest and best answer when it comes to Japanese franchises).

The fourth concept behind Fate/Extra Record is to make Type-Moon Studio BB known to the world. Kazuya Niinou explained he left Square Enix for two reasons, the first one is to make this remake. The second one is to make a brand new game, which they’re also working on. As Studio Director, Niinou wants people to realize Studio BB is working hard, good, and get his team recognized.

Following up next, we got to see some live gameplay at the 39:33 mark till the 48:30 mark:

Kazuya Niinou wanted to show actual gameplay so people know the game exists. The trailer isn’t just some rendering they put together.

Players will be able to speak with most of the NPCs at school in the final game. We saw the novel parts are still in too. The game has day and night scenes too.

We got to see some of the debug menu and boot menu of the game too, something you’d usually never see. The boot menu allows the devs to boot to any important feature or location in the game basically. You have the title screen, the game over screen, a dungeon, a battle result screen, the church, etc.

When the dungeon part started, Niinou explained how now Servants walk in front of the Master, protecting them. We got an explanation of the battle system too.

The battle system of Fate/Extra Record is turn-based and deck of cards based, “like in many popular indie games nowadays” Niinou said. it’s like Slay The Spire, etc. Each turn, you get cards at random, offensive cards, defensive cards, etc. Different servants has different specific cards too, and for example Redsaber has guaranteed critical hits offensive cards. The game also tells you how much damage enemies will deal when they attack next.

We also saw how the game uses 3D animated portraits during dialogues. Nasu in a text message published during the stream, really praised these, saying Redsaber and all the chars are super expressive.

Once the battle ends, you can get new cards. The gameplay sequence ended with this.

Kazuya Niinou, later on the stream, commented in detail on the battle system. He stressed out how compared to the original game, this new battle system really feels like you are a Master fighting together with your Servant, and that the players are not the Servant themselves. That’s why he definitely didn’t want to change to an action battle system, as it would mean directly controlling the Servant. The cards deck based systems feels great, as if you’re giving orders to the Servant, and fits the Fate atmosphere.

Next up, we saw the original character designs drawn by Aruko Wada for Fate/Extra Record:

Redsaber looks more serious than the usual you’d see today. And Rin’s outfit colors were reversed from the usual. Aruko Wada, needless to say, kept the Zettai Ryouiki, but instead of doing it with thigh highs, she did it with needle high heel boots instead, because she really likes high heels like these. They also gave Rin some cool hacker-like glasses.

Next, we have Julius B. Harwey. His design changed a bit compared to the original game. We also have the new designs for the Ball and Golem monsters.

Following that, at the 52:09 mark, we got to see more in-development footage:

Taiga gets in the classroom and then trips horribly. She always trips like that, at that moment. This is a classic scene from the original game, and they’re recreating it. The text narration mentions she made a huge thud sound when falling, and the students got worried, thinking she passed out.

Kazuya Niinou jokingly explained they showed this scene to show all the iconic Showa era-like scenes from the original game are still there, and they won’t change things to fit Reiwa Era. Indeed, characters tripping is a very old anime trope at this point. Personally it still makes me laugh if done well. The characters are all Archers as placeholders.

Following up next was the announcements corner.

First off, an artbook tentatively titled Amor Vincit Omnia by Aruko Wada, dedicated to her work on the Fate series so far, will be published in 2021.  A message by Aruko Wada was published. She’s ultra happy the game is finally getting a remake, and hopes everyone will enjoy it, especially those who always wanted to try it but couldn’t. She’s super happy to be working on the remake’s new designs too.

Kazuya Niinou mentioned they’re done designing nearly all the characters, and are currently working on the facial expressions and key visuals.

Next up, Android iOS mobile ports of Fate/Extella and its sequel Fate/Extella Link were announced in Japan. They’re available now.

Following this, the Fate/Extella Celebration Box was announced. It contains copies of Fate/Extella, Fate/Extella Link, and a Ekusuteracchi: Tamagocchi but with Servants. This is an official collab with Tamagocchi and Fate/Extra, with 30 different servants you can raise. Buying this box is the only official way of getting an Ekusuteracchi.

A message from Fate/Extella Producer Kenichiro Tsukuda was also shared. He mentioned how he only started working on the series starting Fate/Extra CCC. He still remembers back when he joined, how new he was and all, and can’t believe it’s been ten years since the original Fate/Extra. He hopes everyone will keep supporting the series.

Lastly, the game DigDug BB was announced. It’s free, but it’ll only be accessible for a limited time on this page. it’s based on the 1982 game released by Namco, except with BB instead of the character from back then. Clearing it nets you a wallpaper.

Finally, when the stream ended, a slightly different version of the remake’s trailer was shown. Kazuya Niinou explained the visuals are identical, but the sound composition is different.

Fate/Extra Record First Trailer Another Version

As the stream ended, Kazuya Niinou said he was really nervous about the remake reveal and this stream at first, but all the comments and reactions have been really nice and positive, so he’s eager than ever to complete the game. Kana Ueda also said it was her first time speaking through a character like this so she was pretty nervous herself. Personally, I find it funny even such an iconic character as Rin is “reduced”, you could say, to being a VTuber. As that’s what everyone does nowadays, and is required to do so to stay relevant with younger audiences in Japan, since the boom with Kizuna Ai in 2016.

As a reminder,  Kazuya Niinou already confirmed Type-Moon Studio BB is working on two other projects. The second one isn’t a remake but a brand new game that could “take ten years”, Niinou jokingly said on stream.

Fate/Extra Record has no release date estimate for now.

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