I feel at times like you might add a bit more of the prose Nasu used in regards to the utilization of Noble Phantasms, make them something...more. Excalibur's first use was almost an after note compared to the grandeur that befits it, and there have been similar showings to other Noble Phantasms--one of your works, the Worm/Nasu one, that most prominently showed that was Enuma Elish-Enkidu version, which was pretty boring.
Prose is the name of the game in a TYPE-MOON story, making something more because there is something more. This is not to say it's entirely absent. It was there when Gilgamesh was summoned, and Arturia, for example. Excalibur was just so sad in its simplicity.
These arbitrarily overpowered magic users who come and go from the scene as if they can do whatever they want, is getting a bit much. Merlin, Morgan, Scathach, BB, Hakuno, Lev, Matthew himself with his random powers, and Baba Yaga, this is a world where Casters get defeated all the time, where "magic" is not an I win button because they're higher entity beings while everyone else is stuck hitting each other with sharp objects. I realize there's this Council of Avalon thing, but when every scene of them in action is treating the current conflict like a game or an irritant, it becomes an issue because it keeps happening. They feel less like people and more like the laziest walking, spectating cheat codes.
I'm not saying they should be all grim-faced fellows, but their ability to fuck around like this implies a lot,
I dislike Asterios as a concept, but not as a person. The Minotaur should not be physically stronger than Herakles, or, in his case, equal (based on Realta Nua showing that Mad Enhancement wasn't on). But as a person, he's a likable child.
Herakles vs Gilgamesh proves that isn't the case. He specifically switched to higher rank weapons once he realized God Hand's power, and limits.
Am I missing something?
That's a lot to take in, but I'll address each point as best I can.
First: Fight scenes are my absolute weakest part as a writer. I like them, they go really well in my head, but then I write them and... sometimes they're 'okay' and sometimes I get a hit. That isn't to say I'm uninterested in improving, just that they're really hard for me to write. By extension of that, Noble Phantasms: some are really hard for me to describe while keeping the pace of the fight going. I know they are the Big Thing for each Servant, and I try to treat them as such. I can't promise I will improve to a point where everyone will find it satisfactory, but this is a thing I am aware of and trying to work on.
Second: I didn't realize I was doing that, and I apologize. There are some extenuating circumstances, however. (This is going to be the meaty part.)
For Merlin, he's trapped in Avalon. He isn't summoned, and now he doesn't even have Fou as an anchor. For all his great power, he's stuck contacting people through dreams. His nature isn't to be grim in the first place, and he hasn't rolled over anyone because aside from the odd pep talk or background convo... he hasn't done much. He kind of can't.
Morgan is similar. She's the voice in the head, and can maybe project an illusion. She is both stronger and weaker than I've implied in text - she isn't fully real yet. Something big would have to happen for that to occur. What can she do right now? Alter and act through her anchor, and astral project a little. Every major thing she's done in present-day text has been by hijacking Matthew's body because he's seen and acknowledged. She is a Fairy Goddess, but something in the vein of Aradia from SMT Nocturne - assuming she had a host who was sufficiently malleable and not a schoolteacher. Not a 1=1 example, but the best I got. In terms of personality, she's bubbly until she gets vicious, so... yeah.
Scathach's big show of power was in an arena she really didn't care about, and was primarily Gate of Skye abuse. She can't just hop into The Singularities willy-nilly and she's not going to roll over on Events for a giggle. Right now, she's not deploying for anyone or anything, and is focusing on getting the Servants up to par for the bigger, worse fights. She falls into the first group, which is 'mentor figures' getting the rest up to par for the challenges ahead.
Lev is clearly different than canon. I basically turned him into Ars Goetia Flauros on top of Demon Pillar. He's edging in on a Demon, which should say a lot about what Goetia is right now. Not True Demon because that's hax, but he's a guy whose whole thing is fire at a high level. People wanted him to be a threat, and this was the best way I could figure out how. He wasn't really threatened by Hakuno at that point in time, but between her and Gilgamesh he cut his losses. In terms of character, Lev was always a smug bastard until he got stomped in Septem. Also note that he wasn't willing to tangle with Remus while buffed with Fenrir, so he's clearly not omnipotent.
BB is a meme because she always has been. She's not Moon Cell level strong, but popping in and out and (mostly) not giving a crap past her Senpai is kind of her calling card, at least in my works. She needs access to data to be a real threat, which Morgan gives her when she's making High Servants in the background. She's got the kind of power her FGO incarnation has, which is to say way less than actual CCC.
Hakuno. So for reference, Hakuno's show of power is because she bound herself to the manifestation of Per Aspera Ad Astra and made it a Territory. The entire city answers to Romulus first, her second. The crystals aren't a spell, they're a manifestation of her real power as a Ruler. The reason she bitchslapped Lev off the parapet was because he was right on the outer edge of her Zone of Power. This isn't to say she's not really strong, she is- I've hinted more than once that the fusion is more Hakuno than Lovelace with all consequences entailed. Hakuno is also a former protagonist, and while her personality is somewhat up to the player, I tend to see her fall on the side of plucky optimism.
Baba Yaga's role is to look after Brynhildr, be funny, and be part of the Council. Also to dispense
plot wisdom. She is strong, yes, but there's wonky rules for interference concerning Divine Spirits. For further information, please see Ereshkigal and her entire deal in Babylonia. Again, not a 1=1 match, but best short-form explanation. The entire Council will be kind of quirky but also fairly hands-off unless something directly involves them.
Finally (for this part), Matthew. He's good, but not that good. Magic Resistance of A or higher will ruin his day, but he hasn't fought something with that yet (off the top of my head). When he has prep time, he can dominate (see the first night in Orleans). However, he still got laid out by Daji. On his own against Amakusa, he would have died either to the sword or the black hole. He had backup in KoGil and Musashi. He couldn't have soloed Prelati with his kit at the time (and probably not now either), and if he had tried his thing with Lancelot alone and it didn't take, he would have gotten the bad end of Arondight, regardless of his loadout. I've looked at the 'he could take Heracles' bit I wrote earlier, and in retrospect no, that's wrong. If Heracles starts beating him, he can't focus enough for any of that to matter, and it's just a long prolonged death in a solo match. A lot of his power is tied to his Codes and Phantasms, and it shows. His Universal Language is more often used to dig up information than to command people because the backlash from ordering Servants is still too high. His Noble Phantasms are mana sinks that the slightest bit of overuse is far more likely to kill him than any of his enemies. Runes are basically High Speed Divine Words but make it Marble Phantasm with extras at this point, which still runs into issues Medea showed us in FSN. And his illusions are still getting up to where they're supposed to be. Further abilities he gains after this point will only be usable if he seals others, and everything I've given him I've tried to foreshadow in one way or another.
He has a fairly high success rate because he has backup, but it's definitely not 100% perfect all the time.
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Just putting a border to separate that. At this point with the Gate of Babylon, Gilgamesh has undergone a lot of evolution in terms of not just character but skill from the original FSN. What he can and can't do has changed some. For example, the key to GoB can sometimes be used against him to shut it or it can be a pokeball for Ea itself. For the sake of drama, I went with a different interpretation (also because I need Lev alive for the catharsis of Team Ritsuka-Core being there to fight him). I could also say that what he needed against Herakles was considerably less specialized than 'put out actual hellfire'; he just needed big enough punch. Conceptual stuff is bread and butter of Nasuverse too.
EDIT: Realized I forgot Asterios. He definitely won't be on par with Herc in Okeanos, though the landscape's changed enough that it may not even be relevant.
The absolute last bit from LadyOnion was that this is a universe where Artoria is a woman. Manaka is interested in Saber Proto, a man, so there had to be a reason for Manaka to choose this timeline.
Aside from Riding A, which we have an example of, what do the ones that have no description of their affects do?
I always found it bizarre, and probably a mistake made from TYPE MOON still being relatively new, that Alexander the Great of all people only had B in Military Tactics. Caesar too...I guess. The former is perhaps the greatest military mind to ever exist, the latter one of the greatest of the ancient ages who in a more modern lifetime might have been one of the greatest of all time.
If I don't write down what a skill does in a Servant Profile, it's because that particular skill at or around that rank exists in the wiki and can be easily found for a description. Same with Noble Phantasms I reuse for new class containers.
