So this will be a fourth route of Fate/stay night with one piece of Fate/Prototype. When I saw the OVA again. It reminded me of how mad I am at Type-Moon for not making it a full anime, movie, manga, or visual novel. I got stuck on the other, so here's a replacement.
As I'm sure you've all guessed, the main character's servant will be the prototype version of Cu Chulainn. All that armor makes him look more badass than he does in stay night. I liked how in episode 19 of UBW he punched Shinji. Then I liked how in the next episode, he threw Shinji, called him a douchebag, and then jabbed him with Gae Bolg. If only he had enough strength left while dying to stab him fully. This was the one that showed up in the 2nd War.
I have all Tales that Ufotable animated with the openings, gameplay, and anime cutscenes. So I have Tales of Xillia, Xillia 2, Zestiria, and Berseria. The last is pre-ordered on Steam for it's English release on that and the PS4 on January 24.
I am also a huge fan of Ufotable's Tales of Zestiria the X anime, which is ongoing. They're on season 2 with the entire first season already dubbed. They also really nail the CG dragons, so take that DEEN!
There are 16 mothership Tales games:
Tales of Phantasia
Tales of Destiny
Tales of Eternia
Tales of Destiny 2
Tales of Symphonia
Tales of Rebirth
Tales of Legendia
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Innocence
Tales of Vesperia (First Tales game I ever played. Is AWESOME.)
Tales of Hearts
Tales of Graces
Tales of Xillia
Tales of Xillia 2
Tales of Zestiria
Tales of Berseria
There are several escort titles with anime openings or both anime openings and cutscenes.
Anime adaptations of some Tales mothership games have been made
Tales of Phantasia
Tales of Eternia
Tales of Symphonia (by Ufotable, but without CGing the animation itself)
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike (Movie and prequel to the game with Yuri's time in the Knights)
Tales of Zestiria the X
All mothership titles have anime openings and cutscenes, but Ufotable started animating them with the 13th title for the 15th anniversary.
All Tales games are dark in their own...unique way. But it took me several playthroughs of Tales of Xillia 2 to keep myself from crying during most of it. I swear, first time I played it I wanted to throw up during the entire time I was playing it. Very dark, sick, and twisted. A HUGE mind-fuck. I've seen some reviews for it. It has been described as "this game WILL toy with your emotions" and "a distinctly dark and depressing Tales game." All of the main endings, the good, normal, and bad, does NOT have a happy ending for several of those involved. Even the anime cutscene at the end of chapter 15 is dark, since Ludger kills his own brother.
Start of the game involves a train hijacking, with over 2,000 killed and the inside of the train having blood everywhere. During the fight in chapter 12, Elle keeps begging for everyone to stop fighting. Ludger is silent during the several choices during the first playthrough to prevent spoilers for chapter 12.
The goal is to (reference to Fate) reach Canaan to get a wish granted. But getting there involves you having to kill several people, which destroys the fractured dimension you're in and killing all the people in the world in that dimension. By the game's end, you have killed over 1,000,000 times the world's population.
Ufotable anime cutscenes are as follows:
13: Tales of Xillia (PS3)
1. Beginning
2/3. Jude opening
2/3. Milla opening
4. On the wyverns
5. Start of war
6. Lance of Kresnik fires
7. Jiao's death
8. Invading the Zenethra
9. Milla's death
10-14. (Viewed only while playing Jude's story) (Almost one right after the other during his fight with Alvin)
15. Final battle end
16/17. Jude's ending
16/17. Milla's ending
Game 14: Tales of Xillia 2. (PS3)
1. Beginning
2. Opening
3. (Chapter 1) Train station
4. (Chapter 7) Chronos battle.
5. (Chapter 13) Canaan appears
6. (Chapter 15) Bad end
7. (Chapter 15) Julius' death
8/9. (End of game) Good ending.
8/9. (End of game) Normal ending.
10. (After debt is paid off) Hot springs ending
Game 15: Tales of Zestiria. (PS3, PS4, Steam)
1. Beginning
2. Sorey and Mikleo leave Elysia
3. Opening
4. Sorey pulls sword from stone (SEVERAL mythological references, mostly Arthurian)
5. Sorey uses earth armatus
6. War starts
7. Rose saves Sorey
8. Bad ending
9. Tiamat appears
10. Tiamat defeated
11. End of final battle
12. Epilogue 1
13. Epilogue 2
All Tales games have Mystic Artes, which are like Noble Phantasms in Fate. All have a cut-in with the anime picture of the character using it. Mothership and some escort titles have skits, which are side-conversations between the party member. Can be funny. The skits have anime portraits of those involved. And most escort titles have anime openings.
Update: Tales of Zestiria the X already came out with its 25th episode, so it's done. And by now, I have Tales of Berseria and finished it. Here are the anime cutscenes:
Tales of Berseria (PS3 [just in Japan], PS4, Steam)
Opening scene
1: Beginning (the Opening)
2: Laphicet's death (the Advent)
3: Velvet eats Seres
4: Van Eltia goes through Vortigern
5: Artorius is announced as Shepard
6: (Not anime cutscene, but still animated.) Eleanor shows her scar to Kamoana
7: Ceremony of Suppression
8: Velvet wakes the Empyreans
9: Maotelus
10: Credits
11: Ending scene
Sorry about rambling about Tales. I just had to get all of that out of my system. This will have Akiko Hashomoto again, but she's 17 now. Servants are unable to shift into spirit form, but are still able to switch clothing with mana and touch the Holy Grail. But now it's hard to hide them from others.
The Holy Grail War. Every sixty years, it would choose seven mages to be Masters. Each would summon a Heroic Spirit known as a Servant to fight for them. The seven Servants would fall into one of the seven classes.
Saber.
Lancer.
Archer.
Caster.
Rider.
Berserker.
Assassin.
Once the seven Masters have been chosen, a fight to the death between each pair of Masters and Servants occur in Fuyuki. The last pair left standing is allowed a wish to be granted by the Grail. A member of the Church is sent there to oversee the battle. However, the previous Holy Grail War was incomplete. The fifth will begin in Fuyuki now, ten years later...
Images of a massive fire filled the vision of Akiko Hashomoto. People all around her were screaming. The building she and her parent were next to fell apart, the wall coming down on them. The family of three broke into a run forward, trying to evade it. The wall hit the ground and shook it. Akiko's eyes widened and she was even more aware of how hot it was.
"Akiko!" her parents cried out.
We need to get out of here as soon as possible! Those thoughts filled her head, but she found herself unable to move. The heat was stifling, making it hard to breath. Above them, a ring of blue was in the sky.
Akiko jolted up in bed, breathing hard. Her sky-blue eyes were wide and strands of her long silver hair clung to her face because of the sweat covering it. She looked around wildly. No fires or people screaming for help. It was all a dream. Near her, her alarm went off. It was set for 7:00 for school. She reached over and flipped it off.
Sighing, Akiko slipped out of bed and put on her Homurahara Academy uniform, which consisted of a white shirt with red cuffs. Over it was a light brown button-up tunic and over the collar was a red ribbon tied into a bow. Bellow was a black skirt. White socks went almost to her knees. On her feet were a pair of brown shoes. She stood at 168 cm (5' 6" [1]), making her one of the tallest girls at the school. She was also an honor's student. Despite this she wasn't very popular or social. She usually kept to herself, reading a book during lunch.
Looking at herself in the mirror in the room, she headed out into the hall. The room was fairly large. A king-sized bed was on the far left wall with a nightstand to its left with a lamp and alarm clock right on top of it. Across from the bed was a couch. To the left of it was a large cabinet with a T.V. in the top space. To the right of the couch was a vanity. Two columns of drawers, three down for each, held her clothes. To the right of it was the doorway out. A little bit of wall turned into a corner, where the closet was. Right beside it was the mirror, and near it was the door leading to the bathroom. On the wall to the left of the nightstand was a large window. Even though the lights weren't on, the red paint over the walls could be seen easily.
The hall was a straight path leading to the living room. The walls were grey and three other doors littered them. Across from the bedroom was what Akiko calls the "study room." Inside of it, the walls were white. On the far back wall were two windows. In between them was a desk with a lamp on it. A single chair was pushed in so the seat was under the table. At the far left wall was another desk with a computer on it.
A little to the right of that doorway led to the doorway of another bathroom. Like the one in the bedroom, it had a shower on the back wall with a sliding frosted glass door over the front of it. On the left wall near the shower was a toilet and a clock was on the opposite wall. At the part of the left wall closest to the door was a sink with a mirror over it. However, the mirror over the sink in the other bathroom was on the door to the medicine cabinet.
The last door was on the right wall close to the end of the hallway. This one seemed to have bookshelves on all of the three walls, but the one against the back wall had a secret. By removing a certain book, a button in the wood and colored like it was exposed and level with the top of the wood. Pressing it makes the bookshelf move to the left and expose another door. Inside ;ed to stairs that went to a room underground. It was the area Akiko uses to practice magic. There was a bookshelf filled with texts on the subject, as well as things to help her train at the magic she already has.
Akiko stepped onto the brown carpeting of the living room. On the far left wall was a small hallway with a closet and the front door. To the girl's right was a couch up against one of the walls. It was covered in brown material and had a red blanket folded up on one of the cushions. On the other side of it was three pillows. On the wall to the outside, a similar couch was up against that wall with a giant window behind it and a table with a lamp to the right of it. In the middle was a rug. On the last was was a table with a T.V. Over it was a clock. To the left of it was the entryway into the kitchen and near it was a bookshelf.
The kitchen seemed to stretch to the right. Against the back wall was a stove, sink, refrigerator, and cabinet. A window was on the wall over the sink. Near the far right end was a square table with a chair at each of the four ends. On that wall was a sliding glass door to the outside. Akiko opened the closet and pulled a black jacket from a hanger before heading out the door.
During school, she was looking forward to tonight and barely heard the teachers during their lectures. She was going to be a participant in the Fifth Holy Grail War. A friend of hers in the Mage's Association, Bazett Fraga McRemitz, was in Ireland and was sending her a relic to use as a catalyst. The package was to arrive today. A few weeks ago, her Command Seals appeared. The Command Seals on the back of her right hand seemed to have a red hollow diamond with the left and right sides were curved. On either side were two shapes that formed a U. The insides were smooth but the outsides had spikes curving up. The bottoms came out and looked like a greater than and less than sign facing out.
When she got home, she saw a package on her front step. It was from Ireland. She took it inside. That's when she noticed that a message had been recorded on her phone. One of the buttons was flashing and prompting her to push it. She sighed and held the package under one arm. She walked over to the phone and pressed the button to play it back.
"You have one message recorded January 31 at 2:19 p.m."
"Akiko." It was Kirei, the priest in New City. "I'm sure you're already aware that the deadline for entry is tonight. There are only three slots left. They are the Saber, Archer, and Lancer classes. Their Masters must be chosen tonight. Establish your Command Seals and summon your Servant. However, if you aren't participating in the Holy Grail War, seek shelter and- -" Akiko stopped the playback.
She huffed. "You don't need to remind me of what I already know. I can handle this myself."
Her stomach growled, so she went to the kitchen and fixed herself something to eat. She sat down at the table to eat, placing the package right in front of the plate. Once she finished, she picked the package up again after putting her plate in the sink.
She went outside and found the two pigs she had bought the other day and were in a pen in her backyard. She had to lure them over to her with food to get them to move. She led them into her house and opened the secret room. As soon as they were in, she hit a button to close the bookshelf, trapping them in the room. She led them down the stairs and blocked their way back up them with her body. She set the package down on the table near her and quickly grabbed a knife. She swooped down and grabbed one of the pigs, slitting its throat. She hated doing this, but she had to. The other squealed and ran up the stairs, but Akiko wasn't paying any attention to it. She careful got the blood to start forming the summoning circle. When the pig ran out of blood, she set it to the side of what she currently made of the summoning circle and looked for the other. It was at the top of the stairs, oinking at the back of the bookshelf. She grabbed it, going back down the stairs before slicing its throat open. She traced the rest of the summoning circle with it. When she was done, she place the dead pig next to the other.
Inside of the circle were several symbols, looking like letters, around two slanted squares that formed an 8-pointed star. Four of the points were completely filled in. In between each point was a symbol. Four of them were surrounded by a circle.
Akiko went over to the table where she had placed the package and opened it. Inside was a black box. Inside of that was a silver string, like the string on necklaces. Bazett gave her no note on what hero it belonged to, so basically she was playing roulette on what kind of Servant she was going to summon. She placed it on a podium on the outside of the circle and went to the opposite side of it, holding out the hand with her Command Seals. She began reciting the incantation for summoning a Servant. She didn't really care what kind it was, just as long as she would be able to get along with that person.
"For the elements silver and iron, the foundation of stone and the archduke of pacts, and for my great master Schweinorg, close the four gates and follow the forked road leading to the kingdom. Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill. Repeat five times, but when each is filled destroy it. Set. Heed my words: my will creates your body and your sword creates my destiny! If you heed the Grail's call, and obey my will and reason, then answer me! I hereby swear that I shall be all the good in the world, that I shall defeat all evil in the world! Seventh heaven clad in the great words of power, from the binding circle, thou guardian of the scales!"
A blinding white light came from the circle. Some kind of wind was hitting her and she struggled to stay where she was. The wind suddenly disappeared and Akiko suddenly fell to her knees. The light faded and mist-like-smoke billowed all around the circle. The blood had faded to where it looked like someone's attempt to erase something that refused to vanish all of the way.
A young man looking to be in his 20's was standing in the center of the circle. His eyes were blood-red with slitted pupils like a reptile or a cat, big or small. Blue hair was cut short, though some spiked up and he had bangs over his left eye. At the base of the back of his skull was hair that reached down to the bottoms of his shoulder plates. It was tied back into a ponytail by a grey hair tie. On both ears were small silver earrings.
However, he was dressed like he was ready to enter battle. He wore a black shirt. Over it looked like parts of a blue shirt with brown edges. Around his neck was a silver chain necklace with a wolf's head on it facing down. It was clutching the top of a pale yellow crescent moon in its mouth. Over his right shoulder was metal plating. Over his right hand was a black glove with a silver band around his wrist, like the one around his neck. On his left shoulder was a large metal plate topped with white fur. Armor covered the entire arm, even the left hand had a metal gauntlet. Over his waist was more armor hanging down to cover his hips. Strapped to the ends of them were large, baggy coverings over his black-and-blue pants. Over his knees were armor, but over his shins were bandages. His shoes were metalic.
When he spoke, it wasn't as she expected. Despite him looking rough, his voice was slightly deep and sounded pleasant.
"Are ya my Master?"
"I am, and this should be proof of that." She held her right hand up like she was holding up a fist, showing him the red marks on the back of it. "I take it then you are my Servant? What class are you?"
He summoned a red spear in his right hand. Both ends were pointed, though one looked sharper than the other. The shaft had bumps over it that looked like red vines. He rested it on his shoulder. "This should tell ya I'm a Lancer."
Akiko stumbled back, reaching her right hand back on a wall to support herself, the other over her forehead. Ever since she finished the summoning, she felt weak. "Ugh, let's go to the living room. I have more things to ask you, but I don't feel very well right now. I need to sit down so I don't fall over."
She led him up the stairs where she hit the button again to move the bookshelf. She made a beeline for the living room and plopped down on the couch across from the T.V. Lancer decided to sit on the other couch.
Akiko rubbed her forehead, it still pounding. "Okay, so my name is Akiko Hashomoto. You can call me whichever. However, my friend who gave me the catalyst didn't tell me which hero it's from. So what's your true name?"
"It's Cu Chulainn, an' how 'bout I just call ya Akiko?"
"Fine, whatever you want. I'm not huge on mythology, and the only thing I really know about you is that you wield Gae Bolg. I take it that it's the name of your Noble Phantasm?"
"It is, an' ya only know a little? How we'll are ya gonna be against Servants without havin' the slightest clue 'bout how they fight?"
Akiko yawned. It felt like the summoning took all of her mana. "Don't worry. I know enough about some to recognize them if they use their Noble Phantasm." She yawned again and laid down.
"Good, 'cause...Are ya asleep?!"
About 10 minutes passed with no reaction from Akiko, besides her starting to yell at someone in her sleep. Lancer let out a heavy sigh then flinched as the girl rolled right off the couch, hitting the floor hard. However, she didn't wake and went right on snoring softly. Lancer shook his head sadly. It seemed that a tornado could tear through the house and it wouldn't wake her. He got up, walking over to his Master and picked her up. She screamed at someone and punched the man in the face. Hard.
He set her back on the couch and put a blanket over her. Then he sat back down on the other couch, rubbing his nose. This War would be interesting if that's how she treats him!
Morning came and Akiko woke to the sunlight filtering under her eyelids. Her head felt sore and she rubbed it, feeling a lump. How did she get that?
"Yer awake, I see."
Akiko turned her head to the sound of the voice. Lancer was sitting up in the other couch, blanket over him. His armor was in a pile right next to the couch.
Akiko rubbed one eye. "Oh, hi Lancer...What time is it right now?"
"Well, I looked at the clock an' it's a little after 12."
Akiko stopped rubbing her eye. "After 12?! Shit, I missed school!" She REALLY hated to miss school and fall behind. She ripped the blanket off of her and swung her legs over the edge of the couch cushion. "Nothing to do about it now..."
She went into the kitchen and fixed a couple of sandwiches. She called Lancer into the kitchen and had him sit down at the table across from where Akiko was sitting as they both ate. She got a couple bottles of water for both of them to drink. Once they were done, Akiko stood up.
"Follow me, Lancer."
"What fer?"
"Just do it." She led him into the study room and dug around through a box of her dad's old things. She tossed the man behind her a set of clothes. "Change. You'll stick out like a sore thumb walking around in public looking like that." Lancer set the clothes down and started to take his shirt off. "Not now! Wait until I'm out of the room!"
She left the room and shut the door. She went into her own room and shut the door. Going to her closet, she picked out some clothes and changed. She wore a white tank-top under a long-sleeved black shirt. Black pants with some streaks of red covered her legs. On her feet were a pair of black shoes. She wore a red scarf around her neck to keep out the cold February air.
Once she came out of her room, she saw Lancer came out of the study room. He had on a white shirt with a back jacket with red edgings over it. He also had on a pair of long black pants. All looked loose, meaning they were too large. No matter. They could shop for ones that fit later.
She grabbed Lancer's arm, dragging the young man to the end of the hall. "H-Hey! Why're ya yankin' on me?!"
"Because I want to show you around the city silly!"
She led him to various places in town. No one really paid attention to either of them. Night fell and Lancer plopped down on a bench, Akiko sitting right beside him.
"God, all we did was walk an' walk without any break! I haven't done that in several hundred years!"
Akiko leaned back. "I hope you won't pull that excuse for losing any fights."
"Don't forget who yer talkin' to. No way I'm gonna allow my spear fightin' to get rusty."
"That's good to hear. I plan for you to help me win the Grail War."
Lancer turned his crimson gaze to the girl. "Speakin' of the Grail War, I almost forgot to ask ya what yer wish is."
"Are we playing 20 Questions? What's yours?" Any hero summoned became a Heroic Spirit because of a wish they want to be granted.
"I just wanna have a good fight. That's really the only reason I'm participatin' in the first place."
Akiko glanced at him. "You just want to fight? You really have no wish for the Grail to grant?"
He smirked. "None. An' what 'bout ya?"
Akiko sighed. "Please stop asking."
"I won't. Just tell me the reason I'm fightin' fer ya."
"I just want to bring my parents back to life. There was a massive fire 10 years ago, and I don't want to get into details, but they ended up dying."
"Oh...Sorry I asked."
Akiko sighed and tried to smile at him. "Don't worry about it. It's all in the past now and you deserved to know. Now how about we go back to my place for some dinner?"
[1] I HATE having to measure things using the metric system! I am so used to the U.S. system that I can't picture what so-and-so centimeters looks like!