What to Spend Money on in Sword Art Online Hollow Realization

Find out what happens after the 75th floor

Despite how you may feel almost the polarizing 2nd arc of Sword Fine art Online, fans more often than not accept zip but adept things to say about the starting time arc. It managed to nail a lot of aspects of MMO culture, forth with marrying the aspect of a virtual game of death into an interesting narrative full of mostly likable characters.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment manages to re-tell the terminate of the arc in videogame form, and even though information technology isn't the best RPG on the Vita, information technology's pretty much a must-have for hardcore fans of the series who always wondered what lurked beyond the 75th floor of SAO.

Sword Fine art Online: Hollow Fragment (Vita)
Developer: Bandai Namco Games
Publisher: Bandai Namco Games
Release: April 23, 2022 (Nippon) / August xix, 2022 (NA)
MSRP: $39.99

So what is Hollow Fragment? Well, in Nihon, there wasSword Art Online: Infinity Moment on PSP. Hollow Fragment is basically a semi-sequel that brings the upgrades the original visuals and adds more content, such as a new storyline and zone called "The Hollow Area". In other words, you're going to be up to speed if this is your first SAO game.

Hollow Fragment's story takes place in the get-go one-half the Sword Art Online anime's plot, but changes the narrative drastically from a central point. In the series, the initial story ends at the 75th level of "Aincrad", the 100-floor main dungeon, after the players defeat the "Skull Reaper" boss, solve the "mystery" of SAO, and motility on to a new arc. In Hollow Fragment, players must continue all the way to the 100th floor to truly notice out what happened.

If y'all aren't a fan of the show, the game does a decent job of catching yous upward to what's happening in the world: Players are locked into a virtual reality MMO, with their bodies essentially comatose in real life until they "beat" the game. But you really need to purchase into the characters to bask yourself. Quite simply, the story immediately takes a backseat in favor of grinding and combat equally you piece of work your mode towards clearing the game, and individual interactions are paramount.

There's going to be fanservice, tropes, and cutesy conversations just like the show. In brusk, you aren't going to like anybody, and since the game packs in 100 companions (every bit well every bit characters never seen before on the first two arcs of the show like Sinon), you lot take a lot to sift through. Having said that, the Japanese voices are great, I generally similar the characters at manus, and the hand-drawn models during conversations expect straight out of the anime — on the Vita'southward OLED, it looks incredibly well-baked. If you lot find yourself loathing a certain chat though yous can utilize the handy fast-forward push (L).

On your journey from floors 76-100, you'll have access to i town — Arc Sofia. I like the "one metropolis" concept in theory, but the hub itself isn't all that vibrant visually, or lively in terms of gameplay. Since the game is technically offline, yous'll take to observe NPCs by way of your "friends listing," and track them down. Yous also have the option to enter the "Hollow" someday yous want, and complete a separate storyline with newcomerPhilia — which definitely breaks upwards the monotony of Arc Sofia since the Hollow is more of an open earth compared to Aincrad's floor-past-flooring structured approach.

You have the choice of simply playing every bit the main character of the anime (Kirito), or changing your avatar's name and physical appearance using a limited character creation screen. To be clear though, y'all'll still be taking the identify of Kirito's character as he was in that function of the prove — level 100 and all, so you'll have to practice a bit of excavation into his skillset to play take hold of-up.

The game's gainsay is what I'd call "sufficient, but fun." It'southward by and large a slasher, where you occasionally time attacks in a quasi-rhythmic fashion, dodge when enemies are telegraphing their attacks, and hit a few "combo" attacks with companions. It'southward kind of like Phantasy Star Online's gainsay merely more forgiving, and with a few more abilities to juggle.

The combo attacks are actually enjoyable, as your partner may suggest certain tactics to you from time to time, granting an attack bonus if you lot fulfill their request. Likewise, yous can give them words of encouragement with the d-pad and heighten your stats temporarily. It's all very simplistic, but the bright visual way and attack animations assist add to the allure of chirapsia up tons of enemies. It'south also very true to the show, even adding nuances like the "last hit bonus," where you're granting a bonus item if you stop off a boss.

Keep in mind though that Hollow Fragment does have a superficial corporeality of depth. Although your characters exercise take admission to a number of abilities and strategies, near enemies and bosses tin can be whittled downward by sheer force of will with the aforementioned tactics. There is a level of customization to help bolster your fun though. Although Kirito's specialty is dual wielding, there are 10 weapon types in all that yous can switch to at will to suit your playstyle.

Just keep in listen that the game doesn't really get that hard until level 85. Most of your enjoyment is going to be via role play, where y'all buy into the game's world, characters, and lore. Again, information technology helps if you come into the game liking the show and then that you can relish the ride. Yous'll need that excitement if you want to brand it through the roughly 50+ hour tale, because there'south lots of grinding involved as yous consummate typical MMO kill quests to unlock floors and brand your way to the end.

Things like dating minigames, conversations between NPCs, and other sideshows ultimately help distract you from the dungeon-crawling nature of the game. There's also a New Game+ to keep you going — so if yous're looking for a lengthy RPG, this is it. Sadly, the only multiplayer is a minor ad-hoc (local) manner where you can adventure with friends in a limited fashion.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is ultimately a base-level RPG, merely if you lot enjoy the show it'south definitely worth checking out. It'south very close tonally to the anime and actually feels similar a natural extension of the show inside and out. Just don't expect a whole lot in terms of gameplay diversity.

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Source: https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-sword-art-online-hollow-fragment/

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