[FlareKnight]

So might as well chart my path through CCC now that I can actually just fully jump in and play. It's going to be really interesting seeing characters like BB, Melt, etc before they made their way into FGO. If nothing else playing through this should make the wait for Record easier. Something crazy to dive into in the Extra-universe while waiting.

Spoiler for Story Thoughts:

Spoiler for Chapter 1:

Wow. This game just hit the ground running. That and the prologue. No offense to Samurai Remnant, but the start of this did a way better job getting me engaged than that did.

So much that just worked. The impact of Kiara worked pretty darn well with how "here we go I guess!" her introduction was. It's interesting seeing Kiara knowing how bad she actually is under the surface. Adds a level of danger to it having this monster right amongst the main cast and even having them honestly needing her powers to have any chance of doing anything.

I feel like they are majorly overestimating Gawain though. BB was admitted to having absorbed over 100 servants. Is keeping Gawain's Galatine "in reserve" really that valuable a tactical choice? Obviously it's just there to let the main character do something so I'm honestly fine with it.

There's just a lot of good stuff in this first chapter. Nero Bride makes her appearance! Wow. That design really does work. Reminds me why I tried so hard to summon her in FGO during that first Valentine event.

They just build things up nicely with settling us into it. Rin was a good first barrier to get past. Really delving into her tsundere aspect. I can imagine that they might get a reaction to the whole diving into the mind of girls and breaking them down thing if they made this today . But there was good stuff in here. Having to find a way to work through what Rin was dealing with and getting her free from BB's influence.

Heck, BB made a really solid debut. A dangerous threat that needs to be dealt with. And the risky nature with the Sakura AI showing nice contrasts. There's just an interesting element with both BB and Sakura that I'm sure will get further explored as the game goes along. Already well aware of how dangerous BB is. But will just get a greater taste of that in this game I'm sure.

And hey even got to meet Jinako here. Yeah, that seems to be pretty consistent from the pseudo servant we meet in FGO. As a person she's definitely consistent to her desires. Has one of the most powerful servants just chilling in her room because she's not going to do anything .

Just one chapter in and I'm having a blast here.

Spoiler for Chapter 2:

While Rani isn't my personal favourite, this was still a good chapter. Ir really let BB play a bigger role since she stayed mostly out of sight during Rin's arc. Rani was a challenge, but one that they did manage to make it through without too much trouble. The toughest parts came with BB setting traps and starting the hilarious journey of Robin being BB's lackey! Poor guy. And I say that considering how big a pain he was to deal with in the original Extra.

Love it ending with a strong assault from Melt and Lip. Totally lucky that BB is playing it so kind. Though probably reflects that she actually cares way more about Hakuno than anyone has realized yet. No way that Nero or anyone else was going to handle Lip and Melt at the same time after fighting Elizabeth. Lip is...wow. They really went for it with her design! Of course Melt doesn't look that different. But it's hard to improve on perfection. Hopefully I can grab Lip while also rolling for another copy of Melt next month.

It was a bit worrying how well Elizabeth and Nero did get along. But that's part of their charm as a duo .

Spoiler for Chapter 3:

Lip's story. That was good stuff! Didn't love the end though with the mixed feelings. Could maybe chase the CCC route right away. But then I wouldn't get those CGs...

Ignoring that though! I like how it shows where Lip was at this point. And it shows why her development heading into FGO and Seraph was so good. She finally could look at herself with accuracy. Obviously if she can't recognize her own strength and the dangers she posses then it's just a doomed cycle. She can't act like her hands are just regular hands. And wow we got to see how dark her "love" got. She just cut out everything besides the target of her affection. Couldn't let them change, grow, or have connections to others. Was ready to nuke the school at one point!

But at the same time you can see the good. The unfortunate combo of that sensitive skin, her masochistic tendencies, and the way she was made...it just created a rough cycle of escalation. Even Robin showed how easy it was to get sucked into bullying her. I will say that this story made me appreciate Lip even more. Seraph was more Melt's story than Lips. So this at least showed her arc and helped build up to Lip becoming more well rounded by the time she made her appearance in FGO.

Spoiler for Chapter 4:

Ok. Now this is really feeling like Fate/Extra! Death! Horror! Really bad stuff happening! Admittedly that was there from the start with Elizabeth's horrific torture of the captured masters and NPCs...but that was done more stylistically so we didn't see much horror. Lot of cost with this chapter.

Also...wow. Leo and Gawain got wrecked! Admittedly that didn't shock me. They were talking about how capturing BB would be easy and how she didn't have any combat skills. Then I looked back at FGO and went...ummmm nope . Obviously there will be some differences between how games handle things, but it seemed clear that underestimating BB was a bad move. And sadly they paid for it. Gawain looked to be doing generally ok. But then his Galatine got utterly negated before BB just nuked him. Ouch. Smart move to break the contract so she couldn't at least absorb him. But that was more spitting in the face of an enemy than doing real harm.

And all of this while Melt is off...probably draining people.

Spoiler for Chapter 5:

Oh god. Shinji and Elizabeth teaming up. That it turned into a "stupid" vs "stupid" argument is just accurate. I kind of get what Shinji is probably thinking. He's a dead man walking. All the more so since he was probably cornered by BB in the labyrinth. If he goes back he'll just get deleted by the Moon Cell. Keeping his actual age in mind makes the argument with Elizabeth even more embarrassing...

Again. In some ways I get why Melt is being held off the table for the time being. Should make her appearance even more intense. But it's a long wait. Kind of too bad they couldn't implement the whole Sakura 5 for CCC. Had to keep it limited and come up with the others later for things like Fox Tail (I presume). Elizabeth is cool. But they had to make use of her as antagonist for about half of the floors. Kind of shows that they were restricted a bit.

On the positive side they totally had a blast going all out with Elizabeth. Definitely interesting seeing how she ends up the girl we've seen in FGO. Another victim of Hakuno's surprising charms.

And right when I was getting worried that Melt would be left out for too long. Wow she makes an introduction. Melt just stole the whole darn game right there . Impactful attack, invulnerability, and definitely gunning for what she wants! Of course her losing is important for her character arc. The way she approaches things is too destructive and she'll bring that destruction even on those she cares about as she is here. It's abut the journey anyways. But glad she did make a bold attack when she did. Waiting until chapter 6 would have been a bit much. Got an SG and her character development was moved along nicely through all this. Melt really is one of the best .

Wow. Shinji got utterly destroyed! I do think Shinji and Elizabeth were far too careless around Melt. Of course I get on some level they saw it as being on the same "side" as her. Maybe having Hakuno as an enemy made them a bit casual about verbal sparing with Melt. But it was a dangerous game. Sadly they weren't ready for such an intense and fast strike. Melt saw her openings and took them. Horrible way for Shinji to go.

Sorry Elizabeth, this one was actually about Melt the whole time! I mean she's stealing every scene! Fair enough though. They did try to hack her in order to dig up her secrets. She was just way better at it! Poor Sakura though gets put in a tight spot there.

Sadly the "oh god" moment of Melt taking down Kiara doesn't work in the same way because...Kiara is a known entity here. There's no way she actually died there. I'm not sure if she expected or intended to have Melt ambush her though. Credit still to Melt for being absolutely merciless. She's just all attack all the time! Andersen did get some good shots in. And he's right in that Melt can't find love as she is right now. Some elements of her can't change. But right now her way of doing things and living will either prevent people from loving her or reject her if they do love her. She needs to fall and see her flaws. And thus can grow into the Melt we know and love.

Well if nothing else Elizabeth's story was more depressing than even Jinako. That was just grueling. Tough fight. But also just tough aftermath. It does cover the mixed up nature of Elizabeth. In a situation where she never learned anything and walked down the path of evil. Just never had anyone able to or willing to direct her down the right path or at least make clear where she was going to go wrong. But she still did it and those sins are there.

It's a good way to cover what Elizabeth is. And builds towards the person she'll become in FGO. Makes sense the only path forward is for her to reject who she became as she grew up. Still...rough that the only solution they had was dooming her to an eternal imprisonment hell.

Spoiler for Chapter 6:

BB is definitely falling apart here. Makes sense. She's pushed herself to the absolute limit to gain as much power as possible and it's destroying her mind as she goes. She's keeping her body intact, but that's a worrying position. And definitely the first real sign that she's got a truly good motivation inside of her. Though she's definitely gone berserk and has done some pretty horrible things along the way too. It's definitely for Hakuno's sake, but why and what she really plans to accomplish is hard to read. But she's willing to cause pure chaos it seems to make it happen. Or she wants to accomplish her goals but play the villain so she'll be taken down after? Hard to say.

Sakura was pretty intense on not delving into the BB personal data. But she's been very intense on eliminating threats like Alter Egos and BB. Not surprising since she is the same type as BB and has seen what BB has done. And she is pushing herself to the limit. Just funny in some ways to see all these various Sakura-related AI/Egos all obsessed with Hakuno.

Taking nothing away from Nero though. Who I am enjoying spending time with again after not playing Extra in a while. And woo, her SG2 got spicy at points .

I know it comes along the floor where Melt did some terrible stuff to Alice. But...dang it. Seeing her geek out over dolls and figures is cute! She's just going all out hyping up her thoughts on the history of dolls and figures.

Props to Shinji. This guy is certainly a pain in his own way. But can't say he's the same person as FSN Shinji either. In the end he made the sacrifice that he knew was necessary. While everyone was blown away by Melt's invincibility he was the one that was thinking about what was beyond that. Even if she wasn't invincible if she couldn't be defeated it was hopeless. And he had a good grasp on her character. Even though she maxed herself out she'd never turn down the chance to drain someone dry and try to maintain absolute power. All the more so when she was being openly provoked. Her merciless nature bit her. Good job Shinji. He knew his life was forfeit so he thought about how to use it. And choosing to do so because someone cried over his death (even if it took a while) meant something.

I will say though...if there was way to stab someone and look absolutely gorgeous while doing so...Melt has it down to an art .

Well, made sure to go through both the punishment angle and the mercy side to get the full picture. While breaking down Melt is a choice that makes sense. It isn't one I'd necessarily want to do on repeated playthroughs. And the mercy side was far more interesting. Got the fairly obvious hint on Kiara still being alive and making her move. Much like with Shinji, absorbing someone like Kiara was just a dangerous choice to make. I'm sure this isn't the end though for Melt. I mean there's still a move for Melt that hasn't been seen yet and I can't imagine she won't get the chance to return even for a moment. But will see.

Certainly Melt getting that All-Drain skill put her instinctively on the wrong track. Surprisingly at no point did her sense of touch get brought up during the chapter or the battle. Or I don't remember it happening anyways. While All-Drain made her love twisted because she felt absorbing things was the natural way of it...that sense of touch didn't help and fueled her sadistic side. A need to inflict harm because she couldn't feel much herself. Lip's sensitivity was a big focus, but for Melt it wasn't a focus.

Melt apparently took way more damage than Lip did. Though maybe it's a difference of durability. Lip is a tanky type after all. Lip seemed like she could survive if not for the (likely) ambush of Kiara. But Melt seemed doomed to disappear in a few minutes no matter what. Kind of sweet though that she intended to use that time to try and be of use to the support side with Rin/Rani/Sakura. Just didn't get the chance.

Spoiler for Chapter 7:

Geeze...no wonder Melt effectively hoped we wouldn't completely fall into despair when left to face reality. Because wow...that's a bad hand to have been dealt. I haven't been racking my brains to keep up with events like this since I watched Last Encore . Utter and absolute defeat. Well probably not that absolute since there's still game to play. But wow this is way more messed up than the original game. No wonder BB was telling them to stay put...She knew she'd make it to the core.

A simple enough reason to keep going, but I'm with it. A mental kick in the rear from Twice and the focus on being in the present. Can't change the past and future. But can take action in the present and that in itself could change where things end up.

Rin's expression had me smiling. The moment she mentioned having a plan it seemed a given that she'd pull out Elizabeth. For that reason I was sure Karna would be the one to refuse. And it makes sense. Rin didn't seem super thrilled with how they settled things with dooming Elizabeth to a void prison. It's a win/win option since they do need her for that situation.

And wow Elizabeth is pretty broken for this kind of thing. Her NP is easy to spam. Can just set her up to have health just below half and smack any enemy with her NP on the first turn. Can be even safer and use a skill stun attack to make sure she doesn't eat any special skills before landing her attack. And her ending there was pretty sweet. Definitely sets her up for the girl we know (and I presume many) love in FGO. Steps away from her idea of being a fake and will keep on chasing an impossible dream. And creating the dynamic between her and Carmilla as we know it. This is where it all starts. Thanks to her for giving a super easy and fun boss battle.

And got to see more from BB. In the end this story has really been one where we see how far love will take you. And I feel for her. BB got saddled with all the memories and love that Sakura couldn't hang onto. She certainly had reasons for giving up her memories. But that just made BB even more desperate. Does have me curious about what awaits. Did Hakuno get killed by Twice in that timeline? Maybe against Leo? No idea. But clearly things went badly and thus this whole situation unfolded. Maybe this whole thing really is a "what if you lost" storyline.

Spoiler for CCC Route:

Might as well split it down here. Honestly I do look forward to and plan to dive into the Nero and Tamamo endings. But since this story really was BB/Sakura's incident, I might as well see how it ends for them. Although I may struggle going down a route where we utterly blast her and they probably both die. But will cross that bridge later!

When it comes to Hakuno, BB really can go all out girly and cute. It's the definitive edge he's got over say Ritsuka. Since he is the one that Sakura fell for and everything spiraled from that point. Makes sense that a first love has that kind of firepower in a story like this!

And Kiara makes her move of course! And it's really going to be hard to go down a route of toppling BB after this. Because of course Kiara was once again the horror behind everything! Of course Sakura fell on her own and BB with her. But Kiara kicked things into motion and set things down the road she wanted. As expected of someone capable of being a Beast. God. I need to rewatch her getting wrecked in the Seraph event! Whether it's in this game or another she's just an evil the universe can't handle.

That ending wasn't bad. BB and her Alter Egos paid their prices (though sadly Lip and Melt didn't get any last moments in the spotlight) but things worked out about as well as they could have. BB and Nero did what they had to do in order to send the main character along. And honestly not a bad way for things to wrap up either. Sakura needed to be pushed to all hell, but she finally did chase after her own happiness. And honestly it's not a bad turn either. Having Sakura somehow get herself a true human body and making her way to where Hakuno's original body was sleeping. Got him out of there and now the world is ready for them. Not a grand mission, but a nice little slice of happiness out in the world. No complaints from me on that.

Spoiler for Nero End:

This also captures some general moments. I definitely enjoyed it. Though bit tough knowing the prices paid by others along the way. Sad to think of what Sakura had to sacrifice. But it was what she chose. So I can't say much on that one.

Good little moments that weren't in the CCC path. Nice to see that little chat with Rani and Rin near the end. Those two have been an interesting duo across Extra. But especially in CCC where they spent a lot of time working together. Though I guess you could say Last Encore had that too...

Especially happy to see what happened with Jinako. Glad for her. I did remember reading that Karna gave her his armor, but I'd given up on figuring out what that meant for her by the time the story got this far . What a guy though. He made sure that no matter what Jinako would be alright. She'd get back home just fine. It'd be up to her to make the most of her life after that near-death experience.

Also now that I think about it...Shinji sacrifice was basically forgotten . He did all that because he wasn't forgotten in the main timeline. But his win over Melt was forgotten after the reset . The one time he did something good and no one will remember it !

Nero's ending was sweet. Just taken on its own it was very lovely and cute. Of course she'd abuse resources to set up a wedding for herself . But to be fair so much happened across Extra and CCC so I can't say it's unreasonable for her.

And that's it. Could say finishing this in 2 weeks isn't actually all that long. But I just got sucked into this. Spent as much time as I could because darn it...I wanted to see how it played out! And honestly it makes me love what FGO did with these characters all the more. So much just fits all the better now. It does make me lament a bit that Record is simply a remake of the original since it'd be sweet to see both that story and CCC getting that level of treatment. But such is.

Was fun covering my thoughts on this throughout. Great game for sure and huge props to the translators for going through all that.

Will probably do a Tamamo run sooner or later. But may just let this breathe for a bit.