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[Hikami]

Having arrived at the floating city of Line, Kirito and the other members of his party encounter a guild by the name of “Shamrock” as they go about clearing a set of new quests that have gone online. As a guild composed of veteran players across myriad races, in the world of Alfheim Online, Shamrock is a guild that people can’t help but notice.

Arguably the most conspicuous of Shamrock’s members is Professor Sharvin Nanairo, who’s in reality a petite girl. Nevertheless, her looks are deceiving. An alumni of MIT, she’s appeared in the news a lot in recent times as genius girl wonder scientist and is conducting research on virtual societies formed within networks. Put simply, if Akihiko Kayaba, also known as Heathcliff, is the darkness belying the world of Alfheim Online, then Rainbow Arshavin is its light.

Indeed, it’s by meeting her that Kirito and company’s next great adventure is put into motion. Who’s to say what impact the genius scientist will have on their lives after everything is said and done?

Full freedom of flight in the outdoor world area. Able to switch between air / ground combat on the fly.
Action based combat with standard / strong attack & skills attached to mapped buttons on the controller.
Easy to use Melee / Magic system. By sheathing your weapon the player is able to cast spells that have been mapped to buttons on the controller.
Able to use other characters besides Kirito as the main player character when chosing your party setup at the Inn.
Create your own personal avatar from a selection of 9 different races in the ALO world. Though your character will still be referred to Kirito in the story.
Co-op Multiplayer via infrastructure or adhoc. 4 players in a mission and up to 16 in the party lobby.
Gathering materials for upgrading weapons is possible in single player, but getting more rare resources is easier when playing co-op multiplayer.
Character combinations will trigger events. (party combinations)

• Kirito
• Asuna
• Yui
• Leafa
• Lisbeth
• Silica
• Sinon
• Strea
• Philia
• Argo*
• Yuuki
• Klein
• Agil
• Sakuya*
• Alicia Rue*
• Seven
• Rain
• Sumeragi

*are not in the picture above

Usable weapons are now separated by character race in this game. Info on which race can use what / magic types look at the Race section below.
One-handed Sword
Dual Swords
Rapier
Dagger
One-handed Club
Two-handed Sword
Two-handed Axe
Katana
Spear
Knuckles
Bow

The 9 playable race types that you will be able to customize your character with after progressing in the story. Though you will still be referred to as Kirito during story sequences. Each race has its own pre-set weapon / magic types and some come with their own special racial skill.
Salamander - 1H Sword, 2H Sword, Knuckles, Fire Magic
Sylph - Rapier, Dagger, Bow, Wind Magic
Undine - 1H Sword, 1H Mace, Bow, Water Magic, Healing Magic
Cait Sith - Knuckle, Dagger, Bow, Beast Tamer
Leprechaun - Spear, 1H Mace, 2H Axe, Support Spells
Gnome - 2H Axe, Knuckles, 2H Sword, Earth Magic
Spriggan - 1H Sword, 1H Mace, Dagger, Debuff Spells, Special Skills
Imp - Katana, 1H Sword, 1H Mace, Dark Magic
Pooka - 1H Mace, Dagger, Bow, Song Power

click here or the image below to visit the screenshot album

Q: Does this game have Japanese voices w/subtitles or an English dub?

This game currently only has Japanese voices with English subtitles.

Q: I have not seen the anime / am unfamiliar with the series. Should I still buy this game?

You will be lost story and character wise as the game expects you to know these things. If you don't mind that, then go ahead and get it.

Q: If I did not enjoy the anime would, I like this game?

If you think the gameplay is good enough on it's own then go ahead.

Q: Do I need to play Hollow Fragment first?

Hollow Fragment introduced some new characters that aren't in the anime or light novel so you may be lost as to who they are, since they are returning in this game.

Q: Is there online multiplayer?

There can be 16 players in a lobby, though only up to 4 can be in a party for missions. PvP can be up to 4v4.

Q: What does the OT title mean?

A lot of people keep misspelling the title of the game as Last Song when it's Lost Song.

Special thanks to Parakeetman, most of the info from this thread is from his import OT.
Thanks to names2hard4you for the thread title idea.

 

[Powwa]

Nice OT! I've got the game 2 days ago but started to play today. Enjoying more than HF so far.

Only thing I'm wondering is the end game content. From most of the stuff I read on internet, there isn't much to do once you finish the main story right?

And one more thing, I'm having this weird graphical glitch with monsters, sometimes I see red boxes within them. Dunno how to explain, lol.

 

[Prelude.]

I'll probably end up picking it up relatively soon, I need some Sinon Art Online.

The price's €39,99/69,99 and £29.99/49.99 in Europe, btw. (lol scamco)

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

sweet ot, op. thanks!

 

[Guymelef]

I just received my copy... but it comes with a voucher for Re-Hollow Fragment... so this game has to wait.

 

[Hikami]

I just received my copy... but it comes with a voucher for Re-Hollow Fragment... so this game has to wait.

Wish we would have gotten this in the US. We got Re:HF with the digital pre-order of Lost Song instead. Got to play it instantly at least.

The price's €39,99/69,99 and £29.99/49.99 in Europe, btw. (lol scamco)

Thanks

 

[LifeBrandRobot]

Wow, I forgot this was coming out next week.

 

[BMX Bandit]

Is multi like playing through the story or side missions?

 

[RK128]

Looking forward to getting this for my Vita in December !

Don't have the funds to get this now, but I really enjoyed Hollow Fragment. Despite this not being an exactly like HF, its new mechanics (flying) and stronger story really have me looking forward to diving into the game .

 

[mellan_Konsten]

Great work on the OT, here's my first impression.

First I have to comment on how beautiful the game looks on dat OLED. I played a demo of the PS4 version at Comicon Stockholm (sweden) a couple of weeks ago and I remember that I found it a little over saturated, but that could be because of the settings on the TV. On my vita though the game uses a palette of pastel colors and IMO it's a beautiful game.

I bought it mostly because I want them to localize Hollow Realizations and the idea was that I just wanted to just try it and then go back to finishing Steins;Gate but I got sucked into the game and have now played it non stop for 5-6 hours.

We'll see what happens, but I'm really enjoying it this far

Edit: however, there are some design choices that I don't understand.

The first being the the map and the second have to do with the skills UI.

I don't understand why they have chosen to show the full map of a dungeon when the dungeons are built around finding and hitting levers to open doors. If you had some kind of fog of war this wouldn't be a problem but without it its easy to get lost.

The thing I find strange with the skills UI is that you don't see how long the cool down is for a skill that you just executed.

No one of these design choices makes any sense to me.

Edit 2:Am I the only one playing this game?!

 

[MakotoYuki]

The thing I find strange with the skills UI is that you don't see how long the cool down is for a skill that you just executed.

The skills use MP, you have to wait till you recover enough to execute it.

 

[cheesekao]

Forgive my ignorance but wasn't the english version released like many months ago in Asia? Why exactly did it take this long for it to be released in the west?

 

[MakotoYuki]

Forgive my ignorance but wasn't the english version released like many months ago in Asia? Why exactly did it take this long for it to be released in the west?

I don't know if they use the same english translation, but in the west it was released with more languages.

 

[LifeBrandRobot]

Game isn't out yet in NA so nothing to say about it yet lol. SAO: HF is on top of the Vita PSN charts every month so I'm sure there will be a good number of people playing this one.

 

[Dits]

Loving it so far, is it Playstation TV compatible? Could do a stream if anyone is interested

 

[mellan_Konsten]

The skills use MP, you have to wait till you recover enough to execute it.

I see, then maybe you can help me with some other questions as well.

I have played for several hours (finished the first island) but I still only have two sword skills and one spell, how do I get more?

 

[Navi]

Sorta can't wait for this one to come out. :| I forgot about the last game.

 

[QaaQer]

I've been debating whether to get the bundle on ps4.

Spoiler

The creepy brother sister sexual tension

made me stop watching the animie. Is there similar stuff in the games? Would you play them in public?

 

[UCBooties]

Edit 2:Am I the only one playing this game?!

US here, can't play until Tuesday. Glad to hear some good impressions though.

 

[bomblord1]

Does the game feature any "real world" sections?

 

[RK128]

I don't know if they use the same english translation, but in the west it was released with more languages.

Could also be from making a PS4 port too; the game came out on PS Vita and PS3 in Japan.

 

[RK128]

Does the game feature any "real world" sections?

Some story scenes take place in the real world but outside of that, the game mainly takes place in the game-world.

 

[MakotoYuki]

I see, then maybe you can help me with some other questions as well.

I have played for several hours (finished the first island) but I still only have two sword skills and one spell, how do I get more?

I didn't get any new sword skill yet, but yes some spells trough levelling.
Remember to check all the spell cateogories, you should have learned some spells with the characters you used.

 

[mellan_Konsten]

I didn't get any new sword skill yet, but yes some spells trough levelling.
Remember to check all the spell cateogories, you should have learned some spells with the characters you used.

Ok I will look, how far into the game are you?

 

[MakotoYuki]

Ok I will look, how far into the game are you?

I'm in the second zone. Haven't done any main mission there.

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

I'm in the second zone. Haven't done any main mission there.

what does carry over from Hollow Fragment?

 

[Guymelef]

I'm watching Hollow Realization trailer again and god, the graphics are a big upgrade from the previous two.

 

[Liferebooted]

I've been debating whether to get the bundle on ps4.

Spoiler

The creepy brother sister sexual tension

made me stop watching the animie. Is there similar stuff in the games? Would you play them in public?

pst, they aren't blood related if you didn't catch on.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

Question: do you get to choose the gender for each race, or is it locked?

 

[Hikami]

Question: do you get to choose the gender for each race, or is it locked?

Pretty sure it's locked, last time I checked anyways. The character creation stuff is very basic.
---

So do any of you EU peeps have it on PS4? Does the share button work?
Wondering if Bamco blocked it again like they did with Zestiria.

 

[MakotoYuki]

So do any of you EU peeps have it on PS4? Does the share button work?
Wondering if Bamco blocked it again like they did with Zestiria.

It does.

 

[Omegabalmung9]

 

[DrkSage]

Preordered from GameStop. Need to have that preorder bonus book

 

[LifeBrandRobot]

pst, they aren't blood related if you didn't catch on.

They kinda are, she's his cousin lol.

 

[JJP12]

I'm pretty excited for this. I should probably start watching season 2 before Tuesday lol

 

[Prelude.]

I'm pretty excited for this. I should probably start watching season 2 before Tuesday lol

You shouldn't or you'll start to wish this game didn't exist.

 

[Liferebooted]

They kinda are, she's his cousin lol.

Derp, I was thinking of Oreimo , so used to having to defend that lol.


Oh and btw my preload on PS4 just started

 

[Stuart444]

Didn't see the OT til now but nice OT

So do any of you EU peeps have it on PS4? Does the share button work?
Wondering if Bamco blocked it again like they did with Zestiria.

It works yes, only the opening is blocked for obvious reasons. (License song and all)

 

[CoolBatteryCharge]

Cool to see an OT for this. I'm still halfway through Re:HF, but I've been skipping a lot of the story so I don't mind jumping straight into this when it arrives.

 

[Skyfireblaze]

I admit I totally forgot this game released in November and I was somehow thinking December, I'll get it tomorrow otherwise I would already have it But really can somebody explain to me why this is 69.99€ or is there really no proper reasoning besides "lol Scamco" aka greed? D: Either way thanks for the OT!

 

[_woLf]

Did they ever fix the localization in the original Hollow Fragment on Vita?

 

[RK128]

Did they ever fix the localization in the original Hollow Fragment on Vita?

Nope; it still the good ol' Engerlish that the game came with when it came out :l.

Lost Song thankfully won't have this issue as the English-Asian version has solid translation .

 

[Stuart444]

Lost Song (just from the start: the tutorial area + city scenes) translation sounds a lot more natural as if it was actual English players playing an MMO, talking about plowing through new content, etc. I was happy with what I saw.

Probably won't get time to play through it properly for a bit though. Got some other games to finish but I am looking forward to going through it

 

[mgs2master2]

I know I have this preordered digitally on ps4,
But I'm so tempted to grab the Gamestop vita preorder. My vita has been sitting here gathering dust for months. :-(

 

[_woLf]

Nope; it still the good ol' Engerlish that the game came with when it came out :l.

Lost Song thankfully won't have this issue as the English-Asian version has solid translation .

Super depressing. I'd love to check this out but after that I can't find myself giving them more money. The localization was so bad before that I couldn't really play the game, so I wasted money on it.

Ah well, maybe when it hits the bargain bin...

 

[Tye The Czar]

Nope; it still the good ol' Engerlish that the game came with when it came out :l.

Lost Song thankfully won't have this issue as the English-Asian version has solid translation .

The best localization that could possibly happen is turning all the characters into their SAO Abridged counterparts.

Spoiler

There's no need to wonder where your God is! 'Cause he's right here! And he's fresh out of mercy.

 

[RK128]

Super depressing. I'd love to check this out but after that I can't find myself giving them more money. The localization was so bad before that I couldn't really play the game, so I wasted money on it.

Ah well, maybe when it hits the bargain bin...

I feel that we were lucky enough to get Hollow Fragment localized last year, so I didn't mind the slopy translation. While it bites they didn't patch a fix to it that the PS4 port got to the Vita version.....I didn't want to go back to the game anyway, so it wasn't a massive deal t me.

I know I'm getting Lost Song at some point because I loved Hollow Fragment and its nice that they got a great translation for the game .

Sorry if you're upset though and whenever you do get the game I hope you enjoy it.

 

[Quonny]

Gameplay looks pretty different than HF, which is a good thing. May rent this.

 

[RK128]

The best localization that could possibly happen is turning all the characters into their SAO Abridged counterparts.

Spoiler

There's no need to wonder where your God is! 'Cause he's right here! And he's fresh out of mercy.

That was gold man :'). Love the Abridged versions of the characters as they are really funny XD!

Can't wait until they start covering the second half of Season 1....as that will have me roaring with laughter XD!

 

[Stuart444]

The best localization that could possibly happen is turning all the characters into their SAO Abridged counterparts.

Spoiler

There's no need to wonder where your God is! 'Cause he's right here! And he's fresh out of mercy.

There is an abridged version?

also the FPS in the PS4 version seems like a solid 60, again just from the start and the few battles I tried.

Spoiler

Got destroyed though by some players + monsters fighting me at the same time