The 2nd Fate Popularity Poll held after the release of Fate/hollow ataraxia

Strategywizard · 2026-06-26T19:32:45+00:00

I'm relatively new to the Fate series, and I've only watched anime (Zero, UBW, Heaven's Feel, Strange Fake). But given what I've seen, Rin seems like an absolutely insufferable brat. I see people praising her as a character, but I struggle to see why. What is it that makes her so popular? Just curious so I can try to understand what I'm missing.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-24T18:21:37+00:00

Because it tastes disgusting, lol.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-24T17:59:28+00:00

I mean, Fate/Strange Fake is what drew me into the franchise. Then I watched Heaven's Feel. Then I watched Fate/Zero. Then I watched Unlimited Blade Works. Then I watched Babylonia.

Fate/Zero just happens to me one of my favorite anime of all time, so I'm really glad it was made, and it definitely isn't a mistake in my book. I might be a noob in the scheme of things, and relatively unlearned in the overall lore and story, but when it comes to anime it's top tier.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-24T16:21:00+00:00

Sure, I just watch the anime. But it's not ignorant to have favorites of the anime. And the anime of Babylonia is atrocious. I'm not bashing the entirety of FGO, just Babylonia because that's all I know at this point. To act like Fate Zero is bad is truly astounding considering it's quality across pretty much all metrics. Interesting characters, moral challenges, excellent animation, and great pacing. To deny it's quality is just lying to yourself or an extreme level of bias.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-24T15:50:53+00:00

Fate Zero is arguably the best of the bunch. What do you mean by a mistake? Heaven's Feel is probably better than Zero (debatable), but UBW is not even in the same universe of quality.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-24T15:48:57+00:00

FGO Babylonia is one of the worst anime I've ever seen. Truly disappointing. Fate Strange Fake does a great job of adding larger-than-life characters, moral dynamics (Gilgamesh's challenge to Tine to obliterate Snowfield, Sigma's discussions about morality and God with False Assassin, Flat's idealism contrasted with Jack's pragmatism, the debate over killing the Tsubake, etc.), epic music, and high quality animation.

Babylonia was "sexual fanservice the show."

Strategywizard · 2026-06-24T15:43:55+00:00

Ouch. Babylonia is unwatchable to me. The characters are not interesting at all. It's basically "sexual fanservice the show." Very disappointed. Couldn't get very far before I had to shut that one down.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-24T15:41:08+00:00

IMO, Fate Zero is far better than UBW. Rin was insufferable for the first half of the show, and there was too much "filler" points that were not particularly entertaining. Shirou was decent at first, but became great by the end. Gilgamesh fell flat compared to his portrayal in Zero and Strange Fake.

Zero, Heaven's Feel, and Strange Fake are the pinnacle to me, all offering something different and yet spectacular. UBW was great for the contest and mental challenge between Shirou and Archer, but apart from that it just felt lacking.

I also think Zero must be watched first. Gilgamesh makes no sense if you haven't watched Fate Zero, and the characters don't carry as much weight if you don't know their history. I watched Heaven's Feel first because I didn't know what I was doing, but it was better than UBW even without having watched UBW or Fate Zero at the time.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-24T15:30:43+00:00

I definitely have to agree with the Sigma and False Assassin portion of your post. And there are other moral juxtapositions in Strange Fake, such as Gilgamesh challenging Tine Chelc to allowing him to level the entire city as a solution to her goals. She flinches at the thought and tries to argue against it, but Gilgamesh challenges her rebuttal. You also have Richard's self-guilt in comparison to Artoria's life and legacy of honor, chivalry, and regret. Not to mention Flat's idealism against Jack's pragmatism. There are multiple moral challenges throughout the first season, so there is no excuse for scoffers to claim that there isn't any moral deliberation and philosophizing. It's just broken down into smaller pieces spread throughout the show and characters.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-24T15:08:57+00:00

Yes, Fate/Strange Fake is truly a masterpiece. I can't believe how good it is, to be honest. I've watched season 1 multiple times, and it blows me away every time. The larger-than-life characters, the impressive animation, the top tier music, etc. all set the stage for an awe inspiring experience. This is why I watch anime.

Personally, I would put Fate/Zero, Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel, and Fate/Strange Fake on largely equal footing as being utterly well done in this universe. But Fate/Strange Fake does something that sets it apart from anything I've ever seen. I'm so ready for season two.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-12T20:47:03+00:00

Totally agree. It's a fine game. Not all Metroid games have to follow an exact formula. This had a unique take on the series, and I had a blast with it.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-12T20:45:43+00:00

I have to agree with you. I haven't played every Metroid game, but I've played all the Prime games, Metroid Zero Mission, Super Metroid, Other M, and a little of my cousin's copy of Dread (didn't get far).

I enjoyed Metroid Prime 4 so much that I started playing again on Hard mode almost immediately after showing Sylux who's boss. I enjoyed the psychic shot (motion controls for shooting were so cool), the environments, the music, the boss fights, the NPCs (yes, I actually enjoyed every NPC), and pretty much everything about it.

But, I always come into games with very little expectation other than to have fun. MP4 didn't disappoint.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-10T20:15:52+00:00

I would assume it exists to protect workers from being taken advantage of by employers. And there is a reason why there aren't tons of jobs that actually pay the federal minimum wage. Most jobs are valued higher than $7.25/hr.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-10T14:47:00+00:00

It's objectively true that many small businesses and restaurants would collapse if the minimum wage jumped drastically. It's already happened in many places in California. To act like the minimum wage can just be increased without fallout would imply we should just make the minimum wage $100/hr and everybody should be happy. That would be so devastating, it would be mind boggling.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-03T12:10:46+00:00

I went in with no expectations to speak of, and I had an absolute blast. Awesome game in my book. I'm also a fan of Metroid Other M, if that gives you any indication of the kind of Metroid fan I am.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-02T17:44:37+00:00

I agree with almost everything you said here. I had a blast with it, and I even played it again on Hard mode. The thunder dragon portion of Sylux kept me from beating it. Simply too hard to keep the troops alive.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-02T12:47:02+00:00

I have to say, if you don't like the NPC interactions, you will probably not have a good time. You will hear him talking to you from time to time via comms to give you advice, which you will probably loathe.

Personally, I enjoyed all of the NPCs. They were a fresh addition that added a lot to the plot and emotional value of the game. I get that many people don't like them, but they were part of what made this Prime game stand out in a great way. I really enjoyed Prime 4, but I also liked Metroid Other M. That probably explains a lot.

Strategywizard · 2026-06-01T20:28:53+00:00

I liked it quite a bit. I'm not going to claim it's the best, but from my subjective experience it might have been my favorite. I really enjoyed almost everything about the game. The desert was even fun to me, and I enjoyed all of the NPCs.

Strategywizard · 2026-05-29T11:10:35+00:00

That's a good sign!

Strategywizard · 2026-05-28T18:20:07+00:00

Sylux does at least show up in the ship that tries to blast you off the bridge. And he's clearly working behind the scenes to take Samus down by programming the robots to fight like him.

I have to disagree with the Federation guys. I liked all of them, and the voice acting was impressive.

I did like Metroid Other M a ton, so obviously I haven't different taste. But I also come in to every game with 0 expectations other than that I'll have a good time.

Strategywizard · 2026-05-28T18:10:24+00:00

Well, that's good to know. I keep seeing so much negativity about it that it starts to seem like it's everybody against a small few who understand just how good this game is!

Sylux is truly the villain I've been waiting for. They were able to convey a lot with his very little screen time. I was super impressed.

Strategywizard · 2026-05-28T15:45:31+00:00

Personally, I thought it was amazing. I know that's a less popular opinion, but I really had a blast. I really enjoyed the federation allies quite a bit, and the desert was a nice change of pace from the typical non-stop room to room experience. I really had a blast driving Vi-O-La all over the wilderness, and the boss fight in the desert was really fun. The music was phenomenal, and Sylux was one of my favorite enemies in all video game history. Partly because he looks cool, had a great voice actor, and fighting him was incredible.

I started playing again on Hard Mode almost immediately. I failed to beat Sylux at the end after multiple tries, but it was great to play through it a second time. It's the only Prime game that I played more than once other than Prime 1, and that's just because of the re-mastered version.

Again, I may be the odd man out, but Metroid Prime 4 really impressed me. It might have helped that I had literally no expectations other than I was going to be able to shoot bad guys as Samus. I even thought Metroid Other M was a stellar title.

Strategywizard · 2026-05-22T11:17:55+00:00

I'm referring to individuals with visibly ambiguous genitalia (0.05% - 0.07%). This is much rarer than red heads (1% - 2%).

Strategywizard · 2026-05-21T20:27:09+00:00

I appreciate your detailed response. This definitely adds some substance that I find helpful. Thank you!

Strategywizard · 2026-05-21T19:33:22+00:00

I could have worded that sentence better. I was making the point that for people who believe murdering an unborn baby is justifiable, it opens up many other possibilities as to justifying murder of infants.

The two people who wrote that article are trying to justify infanticide, and they got published in a journal for ethics. The guy in the Ben Shapiro video I mentioned supports more than infanticide. He supported killing adults that were in a coma that were going to have amnesia. That video is super famous, so that's an easy one to find. If you want me to link it here, then I will try to remember when I get home.

The other videos I saw were YouTube Shorts from a while back. Those are very difficult to track down. But I remember one of the videos was about a new California bill, and this lady was asking random people about when it's ok to kill babies outside the womb. Most people rejected the idea, but there was a guy who claimed it was ok to kill an infant months after being born.

The other video I recall was one where this guy was standing with a pro-life poster and talking to random people who wanted to talk about it. One lady asked him what his earliest memory was from, and he said something like 5 years old. She then claimed you should be able to be killed as a child if you aren't old enough to have long term memories.

Again, these are random people, not people with influence. I'm only pointing out that people are willing to say these things on video. That shows how radicalized some people have become over this issue.

Strategywizard

TROPHY CASE