Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is coming to PS4 on July 28th
- Thread starter ShogunDarius
- Start date
DaSorcerer7
Member
Wow so soon?
YianGaruga
Banned
That they re-confirmed the new translation is pretty awesome. Lots of miscommunication about that apparently
RIP penetration
RIP penetration
SliceSabre
Banned
Sooner than I was expecting. Looking forward to it!
Kaneda Shotaro
Member
Is this retail as well or download only?
YianGaruga
Banned
Only digital. The sequel coming out in fall will be retail though
Kenzodielocke
Banned
Price isn't known, right ? Hope its under 40.
YianGaruga
Banned
For a digital only late port of a Vita game? No way
Certainly hope so. But seeing as the original game is priced 40 now (outside of the EU sale), I'm not getting my hopes up. Maybe 50.
Acquiescence
Member
Is that the first one?
Man, everything is coming to the PS4.
Man, everything is coming to the PS4.
Hollow Fragment is the first one, yeah. Lost Song is coming in the fall retail/digital.
Mendax
Member
they did? after that one time with the deleted facebook post?
YianGaruga
Banned
They just tweeted that it has a retranslation. It's in the OP
Should have also been in the title thoughThey just tweeted that it has a retranslation. It's in the OP
They're still being vague about that. The UK Twitter account says it has a "reworked script," which to me sounds like a revision of what already exists and not a ground up new translation.
Mendax
Member
They just tweeted that it has a retranslation. It's in the OP
Oh i did not get that that quote was an actual tweet, cool. thanks!
a new translation from scratch wouldnt be necessary either way. It was fixable; I could understand almost everything as it was
YianGaruga
Banned
Sure, but any improvement is welcome. Just fixing the big mistakes and the grammar would be good enough imo.
aspiegamer
Member
So, question! Is this game actually worth playing? As a typical JRPG weirdo who enjoys Atelier, Ar Tonelico, Tales and such.
The idea of a "harem JRPG" is sort of a turnoff, though; having watched the show and seen all the female characters start out strong and turn out being helpless damsel tropes. Over at ToonamiGAF we smash our heads into a wall for a half hour every Saturday night trying to cope with how awful the second season is. Basically I'm looking for the game to NOT just be about Kirito being ridiculously overpowered. That's all it's about, isn't it?
Allegedly the second game is better? Should I hold out for that? I know that has a PS4 (digital) release planned already.
The idea of a "harem JRPG" is sort of a turnoff, though; having watched the show and seen all the female characters start out strong and turn out being helpless damsel tropes. Over at ToonamiGAF we smash our heads into a wall for a half hour every Saturday night trying to cope with how awful the second season is. Basically I'm looking for the game to NOT just be about Kirito being ridiculously overpowered. That's all it's about, isn't it?
Allegedly the second game is better? Should I hold out for that? I know that has a PS4 (digital) release planned already.
I've been hearing these NB "Western exclusive" ports to PS4 have been fairly half-assed so far (Based on impressions of J-Stars at least), so is there any chance this will have received a decent upgrade on the resolution/fps front at least, or is it going to be bare minimum effort time again?
Mendax
Member
The game is well worth playing, it is a really good rpg even if you leave out the romancing and harem stuff. (cool exploration, fun combat, addicting, not too easy/not too difficult)
The girls in the game really arent damsels in distress; they are as good as kirito in combat and you actually need them to be succesful (need to switch aggro etc.). If you dont like them you can also bring npcs with you, or one of the guys
The second one is different, a lot more focus on action elements than on rpgs elements, not necessarily better..
well it looks really clean and fluid in the trailers. cant tell apart from that (yet)..
I think it's quite good, and you can ignore the romance stuff if you don't want to bother with it.
aspiegamer
Member
The game is well worth playing, it is a really good rpg even if you leave out the romancing and harem stuff. (cool exploration, fun combat, addicting, not too easy/not too difficult)
The girls in the game really arent damsels in distress; they are as good as kirito in combat and you actually need them to be succesful (need to switch aggro etc.). If you dont like them you can also bring npcs with you, or one of the guys
Sweet. Likely to grab the thing. It's not even that harem stuff in and of itself is bad automatically. Just that Kirito is such a horrible character for it. Hell, it's more a comedy thing in the anime if nothing else because of the sheer absurdity of it.
Will watch out for the second yet. All I've seen is a character listing and it was, uh, something like Kirito + his main two lackeys from the first season + 12 harem members. Oof.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Nice for all the fans who didnt pick up the Vita version not to mention thats hella soon. Quite a nice surprise for fans in the West.
No the second game is not better. If you are talking about Lost Song.
Its totally different in design, but unfortunately it went the budget route with its overall production value.
Not even done by the same team.
Hollow Fragment has one of the best battle systems for those who have played online MMOs. Since the combat system is all reliant on buffs / debuffs and proper use of skills along with SP management.
The following below is from the JP version but you can see what the combat looks like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHQ9BRrmV0
Though there will be a lot to learn as the game system is fairly complex with how many skills there are and the game allows for the use of all of them.
No the second game is not better. If you are talking about Lost Song.
Its totally different in design, but unfortunately it went the budget route with its overall production value.
Not even done by the same team.
Hollow Fragment has one of the best battle systems for those who have played online MMOs. Since the combat system is all reliant on buffs / debuffs and proper use of skills along with SP management.
The following below is from the JP version but you can see what the combat looks like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHQ9BRrmV0
Though there will be a lot to learn as the game system is fairly complex with how many skills there are and the game allows for the use of all of them.
Basileus777
Member
a new translation from scratch wouldnt be necessary either way. It was fixable; I could understand almost everything as it was
It would be completely necessary. Editing alone can't fix an entirely botched translation, not to the standards a professional quality work should have.
The harem stuff isn't a large part of the game. It's mostly just a really grindy single player action MMO. I would actually tell people not to buy this if they are looking for much of a story.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
a new translation from scratch wouldnt be necessary either way. It was fixable; I could understand almost everything as it was
It takes more work to go and rewrite garbage then implement and check it, than to just chuck it all out of the window along with the old build and put in everything fresh.
Pankratous
Member
Is this an online game?
Only thing putting me off is the cutscene style, everything else looks good.
Only thing putting me off is the cutscene style, everything else looks good.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
No its an offline SP RPG, but there is MP elements.
I have not checked into the PS4 version, but I recall someone mentioning the MP co-op stuff was being reworked to work with online play.
Need to find that info.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
No its an offline SP RPG, but there is MP elements.
I have not checked into the PS4 version, but I recall someone mentioning the MP co-op stuff was being reworked to work with online play.
Need to find that info.
The vita version had adhoc coop play. Where you could go wandering around with 3 other players.
Didnt watch the new trailer yet.
Thats perfect then considering how few people actually got to try out the MP stuff with the vita version, since the adhoc play is pretty much dead in Sony's eyes lol.
LifeBrandRobot
Member
Too bad its not retail, I would have double dipped. I'm wishing for a miracle that they patch the translation on the Vita version.
pock3tmonster
Banned
Does the Vita version let you customise your character's appearance? I've been eyeing it off while it's on sale, not sure if I should wait for the PS4 version or grab the Vita version now.
Hikami
Member
Actually got to watch the trailer now
Hmm, the previous trailer showed the game running at 60fps but not this one
Edit: somehow missed this gameplay video, it's 60fps alright. dunno why they didn't show it in this trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfiJ3hdRdVY
Hmm, the previous trailer showed the game running at 60fps but not this one
Edit: somehow missed this gameplay video, it's 60fps alright. dunno why they didn't show it in this trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfiJ3hdRdVY
yeah but it doesn't let you create a female character, that's new to the PS4 version
ChasingComets
Member
It's actually a fair decent and deep RPG with a lot of content and a very interesting combat system BUT (and it's a very big But) there's a lot of problems with the game, not the least the incredibly stupid ally AI design, the shitty level design of the Aincrad areas, and the very repetitive and overly grindy nature of the game. Said repetitiveness extends to the dumb "romance/friendship" system.
The story is really what you'd expect from SAO, comprising pretty much of 60% fluff and 40% actual story, so really, don't expect anything different out of it. The titular Hollow Fragment story is surprisingly competent though, and quite possibly one of the better storylines, as well as one of the best single character, to come out of the series as a whole. (Not that, going by the general standard of SAO, that's anything to make waves about, but it really does stands well on its own.)
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Thats because the Aincrad area is from the original PSP version. Which means all of the designs of it are due to the limitations of the hardware back then.
Its the same reason why for example the levels in god eater 1 & 2 are generally shit. Its due to them having been held back due to the PSP version limitations lol
ChasingComets
Member
I realise that. But it doesn't make it any less shit, which is what anyone considering the ps4 game should at least understand.
Stone Ocean
Member
What pricing should we be expecting? $60?
ChasingComets
Member
I hope not, gods, a psp game remaster at full price is just evil.
*Says this as I look at my FFT-0 box on the shelf*
Game is awesome...wasted more than 150 hours on it and still didn't finish everything. Harempart is small and quiet funny. Graphics are good enough, story is serviceable, quests and gameplay is good. You will need guides at the beginning to understand the systems, but that is half the fun of this game imo. 
So the Vita version won't get the new translation?
Gematsu reports it like this, too.
Are you sure you can create a female character? I thought the new feature was that you can edit the female characters in the game. The main character is always Kirito after all.
Gematsu reports it like this, too.
Lee Chaolan
Member
New Translation, no new Translation, make up your mind!
Now I can finally start playing this xD
