Fragment 2 (Post-Upgrade) Insight

Some Fragments don’t offer as much development as others, but that’s simply because the spotlight servant has been there long enough. At that point, it’s simply gauging how they are in their new environment and why they turned out like that. It’s best showcased through a day in their life, or an unusual occurrence that disrupts the routine.

 That’s the case for some later Fragments, and Nobunaga was a good candidate for this pathway. The original fragment was simply a shooting competition between her, Billy, and Drake. I’ve since upgraded it to give a little more personal investment from Nobunaga through pride and reputation. With the focus now on her, I was able to add some small background pieces that applied to her, including a reference to a famous battle with some mountain monks. It’s also been bolstered by a few snippets of her interacting with others, namely her two competitors and her next-door-neighbor Okita.

I have also tuned their personalities a little closer to what they should be. Nobunaga’s more haughty and doesn’t like the idea of being shown up in a competition. Billy’s more enthusiastic as his lines and background imply, but I also gave him a more noticeable Western twang. It irked me DW skipped out on the iconic American dialect. Drake was spot on already, but a few lines of tweaking helped make it more obvious.

The circumstances of the competition also created an opportunity to introduce two new mechanics that hadn’t been shown in Fragments: craft coins and ascension.

I decided on coins as opposed to cards so that Illya & Kuro could remain unique with their class cards. Coins also have a more symbolic meaning to the organization, since Marisbilly’s wish was centered on wealth and prosperity. In addition, the coins offer a durable, easy-to-carry material that can store prana to activate their abilities. 

Ascension was combined with leveling and skills for simplicity’s sake. It’s a broad stroke, but the idea is ascension process would automatically boost a servant’s saint graph to its next maximum amount, and increase their skill efficiency in the process. It’s sort of a mashup between Extella’s “Money is Power” system and Grand Order’s material requirements. Simply put, the quantum pieces are the real factor.