Fate Grand Order is a game about history, life, and death. Oh, and also very attractive waifus and husbandos everywhere.
Who knew that we would come to a time in our lives where we would say such things like “Leonardo da Vinci is hot” or “King Arthur do be looking hella cute today” or “Wow, Jack the Ripper please step on me.”
Well, that’s FGO to you.
Do you know what else is in FGO? Salt. Lots and LOTS of salt. The game will give you enough salt to enhance the flavor of your favorite instant noodles or something to spice up your rice. So, if you are looking for a decent guide on how to save enough SQ without paying, you’re on the right track. We said “decent” because this may or may not work for you, or you may find this guide too obvious.
But, if you happen to be new to the game and are entirely oblivious of how daunting the gacha pulls are, then please go ahead and read as to what we have written. This guide is provided with our members who have been playing the game for more than a year and have never paid a single cent.
Why It’s Not Worth Paying in FGO
First of all, paying in this game feels like a complete rip-off. The amount of Saint Quartz (SQ) in the game is so small for the money. A Dollar will give you JUST ONE SQ. $5 gives you 4 SQ (plus 1 SQ on your first purchase). Do you know how much SQ you need to pull only ONCE? 3 SQs. For a dollar, you don’t get anything except just a fragment of a pull. They don’t even have a subscription type. Come on, does it hurt the FGO economy if you put one in, Type-Moon?
Second, there are no guaranteed pulls in the game. No, it does not have the 50th or 100th pull guarantee nor are there any other alternative ways to earn gacha resources except for tickets and SQs. Third, rates are terrible. Like VERY terrible. It’s just as bad as Genshin Impact, but at least the latter has a guaranteed pull and has various ways to earn in-game money for a pull. But for FGO, you are going to work your butt off so hard, that the game turns highly laborious.
While the game does not pay to win at all, let’s face it, you’re just in the game because of all the doujins you read or because you like vibing with Saber’s faces. As an excellent friend of mine once said, “FGO is a pyramid scheme, but instead of hiring others, they just give you lewds.” He is exactly right, though. Where is the lie? Besides, FGO is one of the highest-grossing games anyway. It won’t hurt if you don’t give them money. You can support them through playing the game and even reading the doujins because it gives them exposure.
Grinding for SQs and Summon Tickets – the F2P Way
Alright, buckaroo, are you ready? Here are some of the key methods to stack up on SQs. Remember, you will want to get up to at least 30 SQs to do ten pulls.
Completing Singularities
This one is so obvious, and it’s just like saying “Press the jump button to jump.” But, treat this as a reminder instead. There are tons of stages per Singularity in the game. One complete set is one SQ. Complete a whole Singularity, and you can get up to 30 SQs (not including the EX stages).
Events
Every month, FGO has at least two events going on. These events can last from just seven days up to 20 days because hey, grinding all day and night just for 10 SQs is fun, right? Anyway, the events provide tons of SQs for you to save up. There are also plenty of Summon Tickets to earn in events too which is why so many players spend all night on grinding this game.
There is nothing else much to talk about here unless you want to discuss with us how good the Hawaii event was solely because of Heroine XX, Ushi and Jalter’s outfits are or why Paul Bunyan’s story is an unexpected 10 out of 10 writing. Or Osakabehime who is arguably cute just because of her weeaboo dialogues. Or how about Suzuka Gozen’s Gen Z talks? No? Too cringe? Okay, moving on.
Completing Weekly Missions
Other than saying hi to Mashu just because she’s looking cute as ever and to hear her get startled from your unaware presence, finishing weekly missions let you stack up on SQ fragments. You will need seven fragments to morph 1 SQ. Sounds like a pain, yes, but a F2P has got to do what a F2P got to do. Event-based weekly missions are slightly different since there are times when they will offer whole SQs for one task.
Saving Up on Mana Prisms
Mana Prisms are an F2Player’s best friend. MPs are the cheap green cubes that you usually get from completing side missions and buying from event stores. MPs also accept something great besides the EXP cards or Astolfo’s cute girly dress: Summon Tickets. Every month, you can buy a maximum of 5 tickets. One ticket is equal to 20 MPs. That means you only need 100 MPs to complete five tickets – which is excellent because MPs are very easy to earn. Aside from the default purchase of 100 MPs, some special events even let you buy ten tickets for 100 MPs.
Never Pull-on Regular Banners
Regular banners are lame, alright? You will only want to pull in Event banners because, even if you don’t get the Servant in the Up Rate, at least you still have chances of getting the regular SSR Servants. At least that’s how we got our regular SSRs.
So, Why Do People Even Stay?
If you look past the god-awful gacha rates, the game is entertaining. The gameplay has a cool turn-based strategy system, the stories in events and singularities are great, and the Servants are just too iconic and full of character. In general, FGO is a great H-game. But, like a regular game? No way. You’ll get what we mean once you dive deeper into Fate.
And hey, you can download and play Fate Grand Order directly on the PC this time.
