YMMV / Fate/Extella Link

• Awesome Music:
  • The opening theme, "JUSTICE" by Luna Haruna, has an intense tempo that invokes an emotionally charged battle.
  • "Holy Emperor Karl de Große", a swelling bolero filled with power and intensity to tell you why you shouldn't mess with the Holy Roman Emperor.
  • "Noble Phantasm", the theme that plays when a Servant uses their Noble Phantasm is just as grand as the crystallized legends it cues in.
  • The track that plays in the Rome stage, Imperial City ~Mare Aurum~ is quite among the calmest yet actiony tracks in the game.
  • Knight-errant and entrant, also titled Knights' Pilgrimage, is the theme of Charlemagne and Astolfo. Fitting for their personalities, is pretty energetic jazzy track, perfect for making an entrance.
• Contested Sequel: Storyline-wise, the game's story was criticized for its brevity, especially for the Master-Servant interaction that is pretty much cut down compared to The Umbral Star, with lack of special high relationship scenes present there. On the other hand...
• Even Better Sequel: Despite being multi-platform and one of the last high-profile release games for the Play Station Vita, Extella Link seems to be designed for consoles over portables in mind, as seen with a number of improvements on graphics and gameplay. Namely for gameplay, you now have a variety of moves to choose from instead of being restricted to the Extella maneuver, you can play as anyone you've unlocked during the story mode and are no longer restricted to the 2-3 "main" Servants until the bonus modes, field hazards are a lot more varied this time, and there aren't unavoidable death traps in specific sectors. Only the brevity and quality of the plot itself are in question, but at least it only takes minutes of text reading to get back into the action instead of 20-30 minutes like in the previous game.
• Fan Nickname: Charles or Charuru for Charlemagne. The former was canonized as a Woolseyism for Charlemagne's distaste for formal honorifics.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The end of the first route is quite happy, with peace returning to Moon Cell and the Servants having a huge celebration, although Charlemagne had to part ways with Hakuno due to the former's love to wander and help someone in need, but hopeful, with the promise of them reuniting later. After getting the other endings and learning Charlemagne will fade once Karl is defeated, the first end becomes bittersweet, as you realize the implication that Charlie left so Hakuno wouldn't see him fade.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Charlemagne's resemblance to the male protagonist from Fate/Grand Order becomes this when you read Learning with Manga! FGO, where he has a hilarious obsession with Astolfo, one of Charlemagne's paladins.
  • Lu Bu's "Ryofu Hosen" costume, which was made as a Shout-Out to the red Mobile Suits of Char Aznable, would later become eerily preminiscent of Lyu Bu Sinanju from SD Gundam World Sangoku Soketsuden.
• Iron Woobie: Charlie becomes this after the revelations in the second and third routes. As Karl's "shadow", he can't exist once Karl is defeated. Each battle has him walking closer to his death as his Spiritual Core continues to crack and deteriorate. He's fully aware of this and leaves at the end of the first route so Hakuno and the others won't have to see him fade away. He also knows that he'll probably never be summoned again, as Karl's Royal Authority ensures that Charlie's summoning was a Million to One Chance that will likely never happen again. Despite this, he walks ahead with a smile on his face as he's just happy to be able to experience new things as a Servant and wants to make his eventual death mean something by following his ideals to the very end.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: More like, "It sucks that it's so short." as the game revolves around a seven-day campaign, although there are multiple routes (to 19 missions total) and multiplayer, as well as the large amount of Extra missions that are unlocked after clearing the main story.
• Magnificent Bastard: Upon being summoned, Rex Magnus Karl (Or Karl der Große) resolves to achieve the dreams he had in life, and to take over the Moon Cell using a brainwashing process known as Oraclization to give the people peace and unity. Oraclizing some Servants and simply swaying others with his words and Affably Evil nature, Karl proves as intelligent in conversation as he is in conquest. Despite losing the war, Karl takes full responsibility and, even dealing with frustration and defeat, never loses his cool, always having a contingency or new plan at his disposal. Able to come within inches of victory no matter the situation or odds, Karl accepts his death with honor, earning the respect of his "sister" Altera and protagonist Hakuno Kishinami.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The end of the second route. Charlemagne and Hakuno saying their goodbyes is sad as it is, but seeing both of them struggling not to cry as they acknowledge they'll likely never meet again is enough to tug at the heartstrings.
  • Lancelot's only coherent words in all of his Servant conversations are to beg Artoria for forgiveness.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Darius was an unexpected choice given how he was chosen over more popular Berserkers like Heracles, Frankenstein, and Nightingale^note who actually has ties to the EXTRA subseries as unused content, not to mention being an underpromoted Servant in general. This may be a case of Author's Saving Throw, as while Darius was supposed to be an important part of Fate/Grand Order, he ended up having little relevance in the plot, and many fans lamented the fact that he and Iskandar didn't interact in any meaningful way.
  • Gilles de Rais being the new Caster of the game is also a surprise, since he isn't that popular amongst the fandom, and the EXTRA continuity already has two other Casters (Nursery Rhyme and Hans Christian Andersen) who would make more sense due to the Extella continuity being an Alternate Universe to the former. The most likely explanation for his inclusion would be his connection with Jeanne d'Arc.
  • Rather an unexpected ability: As both Lancer and Assassin, Scathach's Noble Phantasm in Grand Order is Gae Bolg Alternative. Here, however, it's instead the Gate of Skye, which only appeared via text in a cutscene in the "E Pluribus Unum" chapter of Grand Order and was later Scathach-Skadi's NP in "Götterdämmerung" and for her third anniversary playable version.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: Nameless' updated costume in the game is generally considered to be a good update to make him look different from EMIYA. His mullet, on the other hand, basically kills the new design for everyone due to how ragged it looks and it not really fitting EMIYA/Nameless character, making him look really washed out.

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