Fate/Grand Order

A combat sequence in Fate/Grand Order: Here, Kid Gil (Archer), Ryougi Shiki (Assassin) and Gilgamesh (Archer) face off against Hand of Dawn enemies

Fate/Grand Order is a turn-based tactical RPG. The player takes the role of "Master" and commands a group of individuals called "Servants", who are typically historical, literary, and mythological figures from various cultures. The player commands a party composed of up to 6 Servants in each battle, 3 active members and 3 reserve members. In each turn, the player is given a set of 5 Command Cards and may use up to 3 of them in a turn to attack. Each Servant has 5 cards the player may use; the cards for all the Servants on the field are shuffled and dealt to the player each turn. The cards have three types: Buster (a heavy attack), Arts (a medium attack that charges a gauge for the Servant's "Noble Phantasm"), and Quick (a light attack that generates Critical Stars that increase the probability of critical hits next turn). If three similar cards are used in one turn, they create a "Chain" which gives a bonus based on the cards' properties. If three cards all corresponding to the same servant are selected, then a "Brave Chain" will ensue, resulting in an extra, more powerful, attack being added onto the end. Each Servant also has skills that can be used before drawing Command Cards; each skill gives effects in the battle, as well as a special command card called "Noble Phantasm" that appears when the gauge is full. The "Master" also has a separate set of skills and special abilities called "Command Spells." Command Spells have a variety of effects and recharge based on real-world time.

Servants are obtained via a gacha mechanic. Saint Quartz, an in-game currency earned both by playing the game and via real money in-app purchases, is used to summon new Servants and acquire "Craft Essences" which give additional effects when equipped to a servant. This summoning is random, with some servants available commonly, and others rarely. Another currency is "Friend Points", which are more easily acquired, but only can acquire common Servants with them. If multiple copies of the same Servant are acquired, that servant's power is slightly increased.

In 2015, the Chaldea Security Organization draws on experts of both the magical and mundane fields to observe the future of mankind for possible extinction events. Humanity's survival seems assured for the next century—until the verdict suddenly changes, and now eradication of the species awaits at the end of 2016. The cause is unknown, but appears to be linked with the Japanese town of Fuyuki and the events of 2004 during the Fifth Holy Grail War.

In response, Chaldea harnesses an experimental means of time travel, the Rayshift technology. With it, Ritsuka Fujimaru (a young man or woman, depending on the player's choice of gender) was newly recruited to the organization, and a mysterious girl named Mash Kyrielight, can travel back to 2004 and discover how to save humanity. A grand order to fight fate has been declared—an order to change the past and restore the future.[12] Following the events in Fuyuki, Ritsuka Fujimaru and Mash Kyrielight must restore the Foundation of Humanity by retrieving powerful Holy Grails. The Grails, which are capable of granting any wish, are also able to sustain abnormalities that threaten humanity's existence. The protagonists utilize Rayshift technology to travel back in time to said periods, ranging from Orleans to Okeanos and even the ancient civilization of Babylonia. Along the way, Ritsuka encounters the main antagonist and mastermind behind the plan to eradicate humanity: the Mage-King Solomon. He proclaims that Chaldea's attempt to save humanity will not matter if they fail to obtain every single Holy Grail, before leaving. After obtaining all 7 Holy Grails, Fujimaru and their Servant advance into Ars Paulina, the throne where Solomon once sat. In the final battle against Solomon and his legion of 72 Demon Gods, both Ritsuka and Mash are unable to defeat any of the Demon Pillars as they regenerate immediately. When all hope seems lost, the Servants that assisted Fujimaru on their quest through every singularity appear, allowing Chaldea to break through and defeat Solomon, who is revealed to be the Demon God Goetia, a beast that possessed Solomon's corpse and wishes to eradicate humanity in order to travel back to the dawn of humankind. Goetia is swiftly dispatched, but not before Mash utilizes her Noble Phantasm to deflect Goetia's Noble Phantasm to protect Fujimaru in exchange for her life. Just as hope was lost, Romani appeared and revealed that he himself is actually the real Solomon, the Grand Caster who wished to be human after the fifth holy grail war. Using his only Noble Phantasm to erase himself from existence and weaken Goetia, he then said his goodbyes to Ritsuka and in order for him to defeat Goetia once and for all. Upon the final Singularity being restored to order, Mash is revived via the power of Beast IV, who is revealed to be Fou, a dog-like creature that has journeyed alongside Fujimaru and their party through the entirety of the game.

Upon completion of the singularities, Ritsuka Fujimaru is awarded the rank of Cause, by the Mages Association.[13] In the aftermath of the singularity crisis Chaldea would be tasked with handling Singularity Subspecies. During this time period Chaldea would come under fire from various organizations including the U.N. and the Mages Association.

Following the completion of these incidents, Chaldea would find itself under new management under Goredolf Musik. It turned out that Goredolf was just a scapegoat in a hostile takeover by a mysterious organization, conspiring with an unknown entity known as the Foreign God, to destroy Chaldea and the current human history, reverting the planet back to the Age of Gods. Now on the run, Ritsuka, Mash and the surviving members of Chaldea survived aboard the autonomous vessel Shadow Border. The group now travels to different timelines called "Lostbelts", timelines separate from the main human history represented by a Crypter and a King, in order to correct human history once again and defeat the Foreign God. For Ritsuka Fujimaru, he must make some grave decisions and sacrifices that either will make him a savior... or a destroyer.

The game was first drafted by Kinoko Nasu under the working title "Fate Online Project Reboot",[14] which was meant to be a Massive Multiplayer Online game using designs drafts and concepts later collected in the Fate/complete material IV Extra material book. But the planned game was cancelled and shelved during planning stages. It later became a novel, Fate/Apocrypha, which integrated some concepts of the planned game. Later on in 2014, Aniplex proposed Nasu to revisit the cancelled game project, announcing a collaboration with the game studio DelightWorks to rework the concept into a Mobile RPG game.[15]

The game was published by Aniplex and was released in Japan on July 29, 2015, on Android devices, with a subsequent release on August 12 for iOS devices. Aside from its gameplay and own storyline, the game also features events for players to obtain new items and servants, such as summoning campaigns for limited Servants/Craft Essences, specific Servant-based events, real-world annual events, and collaborations with other Type-Moon works such as Kara no Kyoukai and Fate/Zero.

On January 1, 2017, a sub-sequel to the main storyline was announced with the same title containing a subtitle named "Epic of Remnant". On April 16, 2017, Aniplex of America announced Fate/Grand Order would be released in the United States with a Summer 2017 release window. Director and Creative Producer Yosuke Shiokawa explained that while the game was intended to be released only in Japan, the team took notice of the large amount of overseas players accessing the game and made a decision to make it accessible to other regions as well. Since the game's release to North American servers, it has followed behind Japanese servers by almost exactly 2 years, the same gap between launches in the two regions.[6]

On December 26, 2017, the official website and the Twitter page of the game teased the game's sequel by changing it into a "hijacked account and site". The sequel's subtitle, "Cosmos in the Lostbelt", was announced on January 1, 2018. The sequel was officially released as an expansion to the main game on the Japanese server starting in Spring 2018. As of April 19, 2018, the North American server is officially accessible in Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Australia.

In 2018, Fate/Grand Order drew widespread media attention due to reports of a 31-year old Japanese man identified only as Daigo, claiming to have spent $70,000 to purchase the game's currency, called Saint Quartz, which is used to summon Servants. Daigo kept on spending cash in-game in his desire to get high-level characters and ended up spending more to strengthen them once they were acquired.[16] In an interview, the gamer said, “Some people spend $18 on a movie and feel moved. I’ve spent $70,000 on FGO. But it moves me.”[17] This incident highlighted the popularity of FGO. According to The Wall Street Journal, the game is now partly responsible for Sony's soaring operating profit, which is expected to break $1 billion in fiscal 2018. As of March 2018, the app contributes an average of $2.5 million every day.[18]

The game is very popular in Japan and reports indicate that the level is comparable to the success of Pokémon Go.[19] In Japan, the game had crossed 13 million downloads by May 2018,[20] and 14 million downloads as of August 2018.[21] FGO is also gaining traction in other parts of the world such as in the U.S. and Canada where it already surpassed 1 million downloads after its June 2017 Android release there.[22] As of October 2018, the game is available in five languages across ten countries, having received a total of 32 million downloads worldwide, including over 4 million downloads for the English version, and 7 million in September 2019[23][24] On Twitter, Fate/Grand Order was the most-tweeted game of 2018 (with Japan being the country that tweeted the most about gaming that year),[25] surpassing Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.[26]

• Official website
• Official website (in Japanese)
• Fate/Grand Order arcade (in Japanese)
• Fate/Grand Order: First Order (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia