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Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment |OT| Now in English | #YOLO - You Only Live Online

M

MrBS

Member
Looking forward to getting my .hack fix again.

History seems to be repeating for me. I enjoyed the .hack games but loathed the anime. One part is true again for SOA. The best thing about watching the first series was reading through the smoking crater of the GAF thread on the series. What a mess.
 
N

names2hard4you

Member
Well less than a day left now for all of you waiting. Can't wait to hear everyone's first impressions! As for myself I too will be playing, still have lots to finish, and I just can't seem to put the game down even after all this time :p
 
K

kaiyo

Member
Phlebas said:
It hits on Grace Chen time.



Yes you can.
Click to expand...

kaiyo said:
51dRHJw.gif
Click to expand...

----
Aldnoah.Zero is an amazing anime so far =D
 
G

GloriousBagel

Banned
It looks like the hype for SAO on Vita is real. I can see people on Reddit talking about it, Twitter and here on GAF. Great stuff.

I didn't like the first season but I am going to give the game a shot.
 
H

HIR0

Member
kaiyo said:
----
Aldnoah.Zero is an amazing anime so far =D
Click to expand...

It certainly one of personal fave anime series this season.
This season has probably been the strongest in a while for me.

This thread is moving quite fast.

I think I should switch to a Rapier to focus on the accuracy oriented skills.
Swinging and missing 3 or 4 times in a row on regular hack and slash attacks is really annoying and drags fights on.
Plus if enemies re-spawn I get into trouble especially if it is a higher level enemy that I am trying to take down.

The skill from the Rapier tree only boosts accuracy by 10% right?
 
LowParry

LowParry

Member
Hmm. Well, now that I think of it, I'm sort of in a pickle about what game to play next. I just finished Legend of Zelda: ALBW and thought about going right into this game tomorrow. But then I thought wait, I still have TiTS to start playing. Oiy. I hate you backlog some times.
 
N

names2hard4you

Member
HIR0 said:
It certainly one of my top at the list for anime series this season.
This season has probably been the strongest in a while for me.

This thread is moving quite fast.

I think I should switch to a Rapier to focus on the accuracy oriented skills.
Swinging and missing 3 or 4 times in a row on regular hack and slash attacks is really annoying and drags fights on.
Plus if enemies re-spawn I get into trouble especially if it is a higher level enemy that I am trying to take down.

The skill from the Rapier tree only boosts accuracy by 10% right?
Click to expand...

If you are talking about PFT (red icon) not only does it give you 100% accuracy, it also raises your critical rate and fills up you SP meter for 0 cost :p That skill alone in indispensable.

Soi-Fong said:
Go for Lisbeth.. I swear she needs more love from the SAO fanbase.
Click to expand...

Both her and Sinon have the best stories and events, as well as being great companions on the field.
 
H

HIR0

Member
names2hard4you said:
If you are talking about PFT (red icon) not only does it give you 100% accuracy, it also raises your critical rate and fills up you SP meter for 0 cost :p That skill alone in indispensable.



Both her and Sinon have the best stories and events, as well as being great companions on the field.
Click to expand...
I have that skill but I don't know whether it's from the Rapier skill tree as I haven't used a rapier yet.
The cool down time is pretty long.
 
N

names2hard4you

Member
HIR0 said:
I have that skill but I don't know whether it's from the Rapier skill tree as I haven't used a rapier yet.
The cool down time is pretty long.
Click to expand...

Well then if you have that one, the next one that you'd want from the rapier skill I would say is the very last subtree, after you unlock the level 6 skills on it. There you will see 2 very important SP skills, one that gives you another 150SP on top of the usual 300 (at no cost) and quicker SP regen (at no cost as well). You put these two together with the party SP regen skill from the Katana subtree, and you got yourself an unlimited SP bar almost.

CcrooK said:
So picking your "waifu", does that give the two characters additional traits/skills or is it just for the fan service?
Click to expand...

I don't really understand what you mean. But maybe this will answer your question, each Heroine specializes in a different weapon and each one has their own set of skills and stats. All skills fall under 3 categories, ATK, BUFF and DEF that you can switch by talking to them on the field. By issuing commands and saying "nice!" after they perform a skill under that category, you will be telling her that she did exactly what you wanted, therefore nurturing her AI making that skill more likely to occur in a given situation or when you issue that particular command.
 
H

HIR0

Member
names2hard4you said:
Well then if you have that one, the next one that you'd want from the rapier skill I would say is the very last subtree, after you unlock the level 6 skills on it. There you will see 2 very important SP skills, one that gives you another 150SP on top of the usual 300 (at no cost) and quicker SP regen (at no cost as well). You put these two together with the party SP regen skill from the Katana subtree, and you got yourself an unlimited SP bar almost.
Click to expand...
Ah, thank you.
That helps immensely :]
 
R

ramyeon

Member
Parakeetman said:
actually its nothing in depth so folks hoping for a persona type of social link type of depth will be let down so dont expect that
Click to expand...
It's basically just grinding levels with them by sitting down doing a barebones talking minigame with them isn't it?
And then carrying them to the bed in your room.
Saw a video of it on YouTube and it looked pretty tacked on, only took him 20 minutes or so to max the relationship and there was no insight into the character at all or interesting dialogue for that matter.
 
N

names2hard4you

Member
HIR0 said:
Ah, thank you.
That helps immensely :]
Click to expand...

No problem! I've been playing this game for so long that I can say with confidence that the basics I know like the back of my hand. The game encourages creative and strategic play, so how you use the skills is up to you, That little combo that I gave you is just one of my many skill combos that I slowly discovered on my own by just playing the game.

And I feel like everyone is asking so many questions about the "waifus" around these parts. I for one will also say that if you are buying this for the social elements of it, sure they are present, but by no means are they a heavy theme of this game. This is a gameplay heavy game. You will play for hours and after that maybe see a cutscene that lasts a few minutes, then play a few hours more. The cutscenes are more present between floors after you beat a boss. You can take the girls on dates outside of battle but it is nothing like Persona social linking if that's what you are expecting. Now if you want a game with excellent gameplay, that will make you want to keep on playing more, then yes, this is your game.
 
H

Hasemo

(；・∀・)ﾊｯ?
Question about passives - do they require a certain type of weapon to be equipped?
For example do I have to equip a rapier to take adventage of the rapier tree passives?
 
N

names2hard4you

Member
Hasemo said:
Question about passives - do they require a certain type of weapon to be equipped?
For example do I have to equip a rapier to take adventage of the rapier tree passives?
Click to expand...

Nop! After you unlock them, you are good! BTW I responded to your questions a few pages back, idk if those were useful or not. You seemed to be having issues with how to play the game
 
A

Apath

Member
Not that it was ever great, but man did the quality of the show take a nose dive after they defeated the guild leader/game master guy in the first 15 or so episodes.

I may bite on this none the less. Kind of skeptical about the story though.
 
H

Hasemo

(；・∀・)ﾊｯ?
names2hard4you said:
Nop! After you unlock them, you are good! BTW I responded to your questions a few pages back, idk if those were useful or not. You seemed to be having issues with how to play the game
Click to expand...
Yeah, thanks for that post. I was busy with PSO2, Zelda Musou and am playing PSP2i now, but once I'm done with it I'll jump back to SAO :)
 
N

names2hard4you

Member
Hasemo said:
Yeah, thanks for that post. I was busy with PSO2, Zelda Musou and am playing PSP2i now, but once I'm done with it I'll jump back to SAO :)
Click to expand...

Not a problem, how do you find the game now post-patch btw? And I can kind of relate. These next few weeks are a bit too "release happy" for both myself and my wallet, yet it's all stuff that I just can't pass on *sigh* Surprisingly enough, at the end of it all I always end up coming back to SAO, even if just for a few minutes as to not forget my skill combos, or to try something against a high leveled enemy or whatever aha :p
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
ramyeon said:
It's basically just grinding levels with them by sitting down doing a barebones talking minigame with them isn't it?
And then carrying them to the bed in your room.
Saw a video of it on YouTube and it looked pretty tacked on, only took him 20 minutes or so to max the relationship and there was no insight into the character at all or interesting dialogue for that matter.
Click to expand...

its not that its really tacked on more that was a design choice since this game was originally back on the psp unfortunately would have taken too much work to redo and record therefore am sure why it was left as is
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Hasemo said:
Question about passives - do they require a certain type of weapon to be equipped?
For example do I have to equip a rapier to take adventage of the rapier tree passives?
Click to expand...

some passives do but its mainly the ones that require you to have a shield equipped

game will let you know from the desc so wont have to worry bout getting something by accident
 
R

ramyeon

Member
Parakeetman said:
its not that its really tacked on more that was a design choice since this game was originally back on the psp unfortunately would have taken too much work to redo and record therefore am sure why it was left as is
Click to expand...
True, I suppose we can look forward to a much better game if the sequel eventually becomes a reality for the Vita.
 
X

Xenus

Member
names2hard4you said:
Not a problem, how do you find the game now post-patch btw? And I can kind of relate. These next few weeks are a bit too "release happy" for both myself and my wallet, yet it's all stuff that I just can't pass on *sigh* Surprisingly enough, at the end of it all I always end up coming back to SAO, even if just for a few minutes as to not forget my skill combos, or to try something against a high leveled enemy or whatever aha :p
Click to expand...

Lol I know the feeling I got the Tales of Xillia 2 LE. Then there is this...

I also want Diablo III: UEE and Fairy Fencer F which I think is out soon but can't justify spending that much at the moment.
 
N

names2hard4you

Member
Xenus said:
Lol I know the feeling I got the Tales of Xillia 2 LE. Then there is this...

I also want Diablo III: UEE and Fairy Fencer F which I think is out soon but can't justify spending that much at the moment.
Click to expand...

I have Xillia 2 tomorrow as well, and I'm seriously considering cutting off my Neptunia pre-order since I never even played the series. I wanted to see what the fuss is all about, but then after it there's DR2, Destiny, etc, etc. I just always end up going back to SAO on the Vita anyway. Recently it happened with Akiba's Trip. I was rushing through it just so I could play in the Hollow Area again lmao.
 
X

Xenus

Member
names2hard4you said:
I have Xillia 2 tomorrow as well, and I'm seriously considering cutting off my Neptunia pre-order since I never even played the series. I wanted to see what the fuss is all about, but then after it there's DR2, Destiny, etc, etc. I just always end up going back to SAO on the Vita anyway. Recently it happened with Akiba's Trip. I was rushing through it just so I could play in the Hollow Area again lmao.
Click to expand...

I still need to finish Xillia. I got to the final battle then got all completionist on all the sidequests etc.. So would of completed it a while ago if I could remote play it. Sigh my back log is getting rediculous good thing I have 2 weeks of vacation I still need to use before the end of the year.
 
H

Hasemo

(；・∀・)ﾊｯ?
Parakeetman said:
some passives do but its mainly the ones that require you to have a shield equipped

game will let you know from the desc so wont have to worry bout getting something by accident
Click to expand...
Okay, that makes sense.
names2hard4you said:
Not a problem, how do you find the game now post-patch btw? And I can kind of relate. These next few weeks are a bit too "release happy" for both myself and my wallet, yet it's all stuff that I just can't pass on *sigh* Surprisingly enough, at the end of it all I always end up coming back to SAO, even if just for a few minutes as to not forget my skill combos, or to try something against a high leveled enemy or whatever aha :p
Click to expand...
My impressions before the patch:
After playing it for over an hour, going through the first few story cutscenes in town and a new hollow area, I've decided that I'm going to sell the game after all.

I'm not saying that it's a bad game, don't get me wrong, but right now the only two reasons which would make me play a "single player mmo title" are:
- A great story. SAO doesn't have that, if you're not a fan of the show. I'm the type that gets annoyed when all female characters are hitting on the main character during the first 30 minutes of the game.
- Gameplay features that would be hard to pull off in an actual mmo because of the sheer number of people or latency related issues. SAO kind of has that (it's hard to kill a monster way above your level in the current mmos because of how stat-dependent they are), but not nearly enough to make me play this over, let's say, PSO2 or FFXIV.

Again, I'm not saying that the game is bad, if you like the show/visual novels where everyone is hitting on the protagonist/single player mmos. Only two things have actually annoyed me in SAO Vita (aside from the story) - huge slowdowns in certain areas which weren't even too big or have much details and how slow did the last 1/5 of weapon skill look.

Truth be told, if I wasn't playing FFXIV again for the last month, I might have given SAO another chance.
Click to expand...
After the patch (I haven't played for long, but still) the basic attack feels much faster and better, some of the skills still look terrible (slow animations) but I think they fixed some of them.
As for the slowdowns, fields have been improved, but the city is still laughably bad fps wise if you're unlucky enough to run into a group of NPCs. And please, don't give me the "it's a portable game, so fps are not important", since it's not a port from a stronger system or anything. Still, the game post-patch feels much better than before.
 
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