What do you like/dislike about Fate/Grand Order's story?

[Kotonoha]

Trying to make me feel bad for [...] Mabel Marble from the CCC event is like trying to make me feel bad about Ensign Disposable who beams down with Kirk, Mc Coy and Spock

I can definitely tell you know a lot about the plot of the CCC event

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Also if you think knowing a character is going to eventually die makes them not worth caring about I have terrible news for you about human beings

[pinetree]

Your whole party is massacred in London by Solomon just so you can get rubbed on your face how dire things are? Eh, by the next event they all will be back making fun of each other.

I honestly can't comprehend this sentiment at all. It's a pretty common criticism that I could never connect to.
How does a character appearing later diminish the emotional impact of their suffering or death or both in the moment?
Do you stop caring about Sakura's suffering, for example, because she's a character in Carnival Phantasm? Did you not mind any of the Servants deaths in the previous Fate entries because they're on the Throne anyway?

I honestly cannot see the difference between that and Servants in Grand Order. There's a clear separation between a character as they are in a chapter's narrative and the unit in your inventory or their appearance on the newest summer event.

Solomon's sacrifice is pretty much the only thing that keeps any major dramatic weight because it's the only one that sticks.

Olga's death still influenced our decision years later with the new director. Characters impact Mash's character permanently every single singularity. Our relationship with Eresh caused another event as a direct consequence. Tristan is still dealing with his actions during Camelot. Fou's sacrifice permanently changes him and is now being used to set up new plot points. Patixi and everything in the first Lostbelt impacts us and leads our actions in the nest Lostbelts.
That's all off the top of my head, I could go on.

The Lostbelts try to make up for that by wasting their own NPCs and trying to make us feel bad for them because they are disposable non-Servants who won't come back, but they're just redshirts. Trying to make me feel bad for Greta the Gotterdamerung Girl or even her pre-Lostbelts predecessor Mabel Marble from the CCC event is like trying to make me feel bad about Ensign Disposable who beams down with Kirk, Mc Coy and Spock. They have 'I'm Going to Die' painted all over their chests, so when they die you only feel like you've wasted your time with someone who obviously was never going to make it out, while Servants get to die like 1,000 fucking times and come back as if nothing had happened.

But the fatality of their inevitable demise is part of the tragedy. Do you not feel anything about dramas in which characters have fatal diseases? Comparing the emotional weight of actual characters that are inevitably going to die because of our actions to "redshirts" is ludicrous to me.

[Magikewl]

I don’t care about people who are going to die but people who are already dead are cool

[Draconic]

My main gripe is that certain characters are relegated to joke status. David and Blackbeard for some examples. Blackbeard is such a wasted character… Jeanne Alter’s status as a joke character however is kind of mitigated during Shinjuku if what I’ve read is accurate. Something about how part of the plot is about her trying to actually figure out who she is as an individual, beyond being a fake copy of a real person?

[Mattias]

My main gripe is that certain characters are relegated to joke status. David and Blackbeard for some examples. Blackbeard is such a wasted character… Jeanne Alter’s status as a joke character however is kind of mitigated during Shinjuku if what I’ve read is accurate.

I had the same thoughts about Leonidas, Ushi and Benkei, and then Babylon made me actually appreciate them. So I get the feeling it's not that they're bad characters, just that they haven't been written well yet. Apparently even Fionn gets a good portrayal in two years, so nothing is unsalvageable.

[Lily Emilio]

David had freaking amazing interlude where he tried to inspire his son not as a father but a hero who fought Goliath

-> he became joke character now.

Wut.

[weeblord]

I honestly can't comprehend this sentiment at all. It's a pretty common criticism that I could never connect to.
How does a character appearing later diminish the emotional impact of their suffering or death or both in the moment?
Do you stop caring about Sakura's suffering, for example, because she's a character in Carnival Phantasm? Did you not mind any of the Servants deaths in the previous Fate entries because they're on the Throne anyway?

To be honest, due to their nature servants deaths rarely impact me in any Fate work. Only when there’s some kinda extra element spicing it up like Illya&Hercs bond, Archer dropping the pissy persona or Bedi finally crumbling after fulfilling his mission of loyalty for example, then it might have some impact for me. Most of the time it’s just business as usual, like “oh man this servant died? Bummer, he/she was cool”.

although Bedi wasn’t a Servant when I think about it so I dunno, I guess that doesn’t apply...

[pinetree]

How is that any different from regular characters though? What you mentioned are like the basics of making death impactful. Close ties with someone that was left behind, a sudden change of heart in their last moments, a purpose that is finally accomplished (or that is failed to be accomplished) etc. Those are tools used by any writer to evoke your empathy for the death of fictional people, deaths lacking any of that, be it of a Servant or not, will often feel meaningless or fail to evoke a truly impactful emotional response from the reader.

[weeblord]

I’m not sad for Herc when Herc dies, I’m sad that Illya loses her buddy. I’m not sad that Archer dies, I’m emotional about him getting over his baggage etc. If a character living in the era dies however, I might be sad that character lost their chance to live a fulfilling life, but Servants are already dead and them disappearing is part of the deal from the start.

[WatashiwalancerPower]

the existence of FEMC and whether is a joke or not

[Lily Emilio]

^Sexist confirmed.

/s

[Lord C]

David had freaking amazing interlude where he tried to inspire his son not as a father but a hero who fought Goliath

He was also pretty wise during Okeanus, such as when he was explaining about the Ark and how even though it could kill anything even through God Hand, it would normally be useless because even a Berserker would be able to sense the danger it posed as if it was a bomb

[WatashiwalancerPower]

i dislike the perverted implications coming from FGO and for the reference: not a FGO player so take that with a grain of salt from a filthy casual

[pinetree]

What perverted implications? Agartha?

[Deathhappens]

There's also Tamamo Thirsty and, I dunno, Mata Hari and Boudica? Still not exactly up to the standard of something I'd call "perverted", especially if I hadn't actually played the game.

[OverMaster]

Out of that single highly ambiguous situation with Tamamo's spiked drink in Summer 2016, there's nothing really perverted about GO beyond the typical juvenile teasing that goes nowhere seen in any harem comedy. Even turbo charged sexual machines like Medb and Kiara are nerfed so they're never a real threat to Cardboard Cutout's immortal virginity which will survive all timelines.

[Mcjon01]

How do you know Ritsuka wasn't in a committed long-term relationship before coming to Chaldea, and the reason they don't make a move on any of the heroes is because their heart pines for their lost lover, inspiring them to go to any lengths to bring back the world

It's not like we get to see enough about them to prove it one way or the other

[Dullahan]

How do you know Ritsuka wasn't in a committed long-term relationship

too much disposable income

[Mcjon01]

He was probably f2p

[Reign]

They're stringing Mash along then, the bastards.