Why Heaven's Feel is my least favorite Fate/Stay Night route

//thread//

WARNING: it's 17 tweets long lol. Just so if ya don't feel like reading all that you know how long it is.

Let me preface this thread by saying, I rate all 3 routes a 10/10. Even if I dislike some parts of a certain route, those parts are most likely covered up by other parts so it's still a 10 in the end for me.

When I posted the tweet earlier about how HF is third for me, I genuinely didn't think I would get many people who agree but there were some for which I'm glad.

So to those guys, here's the thread and please do say if I nailed or comepletely missed why you agreed with me in that earlier tweet. And to everyone else this is just an elaboration and again, my personal opinion, I'm not saying it's fact, favorite route is obviously subjective.

To start.

Shirou Emiya has always been a massive part of why I like Fate/Stay Night and aside from the fact that he's a superbly written character, another reason why I like him so much is because of how much I find his character inspirational and quite honestly, a role model.

I was 16 when I first played Fate/Stay Night and quite honestly I wasn't doing so well in my life. Was diagnosed with depression and was slacking in school. Overall I had barely any motivation to do or commit to anything.

But then I picked this game up, simply because I saw this one guy looking kinda cool on the cover. This guy.

Long story short, I didn't like Shirou at the start. Simply because of how our personalities clashed yet I was supposed to play as him, *be* him as it were. I was probably just playing to see more of EMIYA.

But as I was getting throught the Fate route I thought to myself:

„Man, I envy this guy. How can he have so much drive to do these things and not just quit. How?“

And the scene that finally got me was Shirou punching Kotomine. Seeing this 16/17 kid trying his best to save this little white haired girl even at the cost of his life against some whatever dark mud and this crazy powerful priest inspired me.

Keep in mind this is Fate route Shirou. He didn't absorb EMIYA's crazy skills like in UBW nor does he have EMIYA'S arm like in HF, so to my 16 self as the meme goes
„he's just like me“.

After that, I was set. I thought „if Shirou can do it so can I“ and so I hit the gym. Started training my body and as luck would have it, working out actually makes me very energetic. It helped me get through depression. That was always the motto „If he can do it, why can't I“.

So now I've come to the main point of the thread, why is HF third? It's because of Shirou himself again.

After how much he inspired me in the 2 routes before and instilled a never give up mentality in me, how he kept following his one ideal to the bitter end, now just to give it up in this third route for one person dissapointed me.

Don't get me wrong, HF Shirou's actions make complete sense and honestly he is the most human Shirou out of the three. Who wouldn't save their loved ones over random people right?

But just the fact he chose to give in and give up on his ideal shattered my previous perception.

I've always understood that Shirou's character and him following that ideal isn't really realistic and is very self-destructive, but that's what made him so much more inspirational.

As he was running and chasing his impossible dream, behind his back I was chasing him.

It sounds incredibly stupid and corny I know, like this grown ass man loves this fictional character so much LMFAO NERD.

But honestly that's how much he means to me as a person. And that's why Heaven's Feel is third for me.

Heaven's Feel Shirou feels like he stopped running.