I'll admit I didn't really follow much of the news on Fate/EXTELLA LINK, since I initially thought it was an expanded re-release of The Umbral Star. Instead, it's a full-blown sequel (with a lot of capitol letters). Well, for the most part. The sequel bit, not the letters.
Anyway, the game picks up a bit after the events of the previous one. Altera is still small, Nero and Tamamo are still fighting over you, and you defeated the Umbral Star. However, the main character claims to have never met Archimedes. I guess I'm not the only one to forget stuff from the last game. Unlike last time, the story is a more "good versus evil" type, instead of the much more intimate arcs from before. It may feel a little bit less Fate-like, but it feels more accessible to the laymen.
Of course a new threat arises, requiring your heroes to band together and defeat it. Also of course, some of your friends have been turned against you by this new foe. Besides a new plot, there is a new structure to the game, and for the most part, I think it's better. After the first two fights, you can pick your next stage. The stage you pick can lead to one of the alternate paths. Plus, you aren't locked into your route, as you can do another stage to unlock the other route. Once those are both finished, a third route opens up. The game is nice enough to tell you what you need to do to get it, and you don't even have to repeat the stage the choice is tied to, just skip to the dialogue at the end of it. The 27 story stages are laid out very clearly once available, which is always a plus.
For your first run through a story, you are limited to the characters you actually have at that point. So if you do an earlier stage, you might not have all of your friends. Once you get an ending, that restriction is lifted. You can turn that feature off if you want to, but I wouldn't dream of doing that. Half the fun of unlocking characters is using them to see if they are any good. As you beat each stage, you can unlock even more characters, and also new extra battles. There are over 40 extra battles. It's really nice, but the early level suggestions aren't the most friendly to using newly unlocked and non-used characters. So, you will probably be grinding the first one or some story stages a few times. Or just pay money to level up your units.
Battle basics are very similar to before. The game is a hack and slash, so you take on hordes of faceless grunts, some stronger captain units, and named heroes. The Square Button is your normal attack, and the Triangle Button your stronger one. Pressing Triangle at different points of the combo will result in different ending moves, allowing you to vary up your attacks based on preference or the situation. Each character can also equip up to four special moves that are either attacks or even buffs. They are on a cooldown timer, so use them as much as you can for some easy damage.
The field is divided up into several key rooms, with a few tiny hubs between them. When you reach a door, pressing the X Button (jump) will launch you to the next. It cuts down on unnecessary traveling, keeping the game more focused on the action. The goal is to take over key areas, defeat key personnel, and prevent your main base (or other important target) from running out of health. Taking over a room is the same as last time, just kill some grunts until the key aggressors show up, and then defeat them.
The Moon Drive is back and slightly reworked. As you attack enemies, your gauge will fill. When full, you can press the Circle Button to enter a powered up state. Attacking enemies during Moon Drive will fill the Noble Phantasm gauge. When that is full, pressing R2 will unleash your weapon's true name. While that aspect is more important in the show, what it does here is a lot of damage. So much so that it will instantly take over whatever room you use it in! Very useful when used strategically.
Install skills also return. As you deepen your friendship with the various characters, they can equip more passive skills. These range from stat increases, to more damage during Moon Drive, and even more experience per kill. Most drops during battles are more install skills, which will increase the strength of them when multiple are acquired. Mystic Codes, like last time, let you cast temporary buffs or heals. The cost of making the lower level Mystic Codes feels much more reasonable, and therefore much easier to try new ones, or get a better version of the one you are using.
While I enjoyed the previous game a lot, I think Fate/EXTELLA LINK is even better. It adds new characters and nice new features. The story is not nearly as in-depth, which is both good and bad, but the branching storyline is interesting. I sort of miss the character arcs, but I think the extra stages are a good substitute. At least that way you aren't stuck using a character you don't like for several battles. If you enjoyed the gameplay in the first game, it is an easy recommendation. If you like Dynasty Warriors-like hack and slash, it is still an easy recommendation. I like it!
The Good:
Fights are fun and I like the branching story. There are several systems in play, but it's easy to grasp the concepts of them.
The Bad:
Not much depth on the characters, have to check the menus for information on them.
The SaHD:
I'm surprised "Charlie" wasn't used as a character before this.
(Review copy of Fate/EXTELLA LINK was provided by the publisher)
