Sword Art Online - You die in the game, you die for real

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > VEGETA > Sword Art Online - You die in the game, you die for real

Argas: Jan 13, 2008; SRW Fanatic

RyuujinBlueZ posted:

Yeah. That duel should have been the majority of the episode, and it felt like they should have spent a bit more time on his being in the guild. Maybe half the episode on the duel, then half on him loving around in the guild and end on a cliffhanger. Make it a two-parter. You'd still get that ending bit they obviously wanted, and the pacing would have felt better.

I'm not sure if the fight has enough material to go on that much longer. Certainly they can space it out more with scenes before and after, but the actual fight itself would require using a lot of the inner monologue that the anime has been prone to leaving out.

Alectai posted:

Spoilery bit

Yes

# ? Sep 8, 2012 23:59

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# ? Jun 2, 2024 17:11

Fetucine: Oct 29, 2011

Do the light novels elaborate on exactly what Divine Blade does? Or is it just a flat stat boost? Are stat boost skills A Thing in most MMOs?

# ? Sep 9, 2012 00:06

nielsm: Jun 1, 2009

Fetucine posted:

Do the light novels elaborate on exactly what Divine Blade does? Or is it just a flat stat boost? Are stat boost skills A Thing in most MMOs?

It looked like it made him somehow able to block an attack that was already too far in to block normally. The way it was animated made it look like some sort of bullet-time time dilation stuff.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 00:17

Amarkov: Jun 21, 2010

Fetucine posted:

Do the light novels elaborate on exactly what Divine Blade does? Or is it just a flat stat boost? Are stat boost skills A Thing in most MMOs?

Yeah, stat boost skills are generally A Thing. Boosting your stats to max is obviously incredibly overpowered, but stat caps do exist to keep people from minmaxing their way into a character that one-hits everything.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 00:18

Dan7el: Dec 7, 2008

Argas posted:

Not only did the duel feel rushed but they messed up the mechanics probably for the sake of making it more visually interesting. First-to-hit and then they proceed to hurt each other without the duel ending.

I don't think first-strike is quite what we expect. I think you can get minor hits in these duels that don't really count. It's the first really big strike. Sort of like a solid hit in martial arts or even a point in boxing. Boxes hit on each other for up to even a round or two before a point is scored. This is text directly from the baka-tsuki translation, chapter 13 of volume 1:

quote:

We started trading blows at blinding speeds. My sword was blocked by his shield; his sword was deflected by mine. Various light trails of different colors appeared and faded continuously around us, while the sounds of our weapons clashing shook the arena floor. A minor blow made it through every once a while, and our HP decreased bit by bit. Even if both players failed to make a clean hit, one would win the moment their opponent's HP fell below 50%.

darkgray posted:

Wikipedia says 25 episodes total, though.

True. I assumed that was two seasons worth because there isn't enough content from the SAO light novel left to fill 15 more episodes. Also, Wikipedia shows that there are a total of 13 titled episodes. Looks like they will devote two full episodes to (yet another big spoiler: -- ) the events on the 22nd floor -- which is critical for ALO and beyond....

Fetucine posted:

Do the light novels elaborate on exactly what Divine Blade does? Or is it just a flat stat boost? Are stat boost skills A Thing in most MMOs?

The light novel doesn't really go into specifics other than that Holy Sword is an amazing unique skill and that Heathcliff is likely the absolute best player in the game. The sword/shield combo that Holy Sword gives is virtually unbeatable.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 00:44

Dexo: Aug 15, 2009; A city that was to live by night after the wilderness had passed. A city that was to forge out of steel and blood-red neon its own peculiar wilderness.

Oh god hahaha They are actually gonna do Fairy Dance aren't they.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 01:07

Gearhead: Feb 13, 2007; The Metroid of Humor

Dexo posted:

Oh god hahaha They are actually gonna do Fairy Dance aren't they.

The end of Fairy Dance would make a GREAT ending point for a season.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 02:28

Demicol: Nov 8, 2009

Dan7el posted:

I don't think first-strike is quite what we expect. I think you can get minor hits in these duels that don't really count. It's the first really big strike.

Yeah I was hoping they would elaborate on this some, maybe trough some inner dialogue, but as usual they just rushed trough it.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 02:28

Nalin: Sep 29, 2007; Hair Elf

Fetucine posted:

Do the light novels elaborate on exactly what Divine Blade does? Or is it just a flat stat boost? Are stat boost skills A Thing in most MMOs?

Yes, kinda. It is a massively powerful shield that can also be used to make attacks. During the duel, Heathcliff uses a powerful Sword Art bash with his shield (the anime shows the scene, but it looks like just a normal bash. The novel explicitly references the light trail that indicates when a special move is used.)

baka-tsuki, v1, c13 posted:

With this low shout, he executed a piercing attack with his shield. It came at me, leaving a trail of pure white light.

...

It was unexpected, but it seemed that the shield itself could also be used as a weapon. It was similar to Dual Blades in a sense.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 02:44

Storgar: Oct 31, 2011

I feel like this is starting to feel like a show now, instead of a miniseries. Also, when Asuna talked about the Divine blade being overpowered, I just couldn't help but imagine them communicating like they were talking through in game chat.

[Asuna] says: yea, leik divine blade is soo unbalanced
[Kirito] says: omg ttly
...
[Godfrey] says: omg wtf u nub stop pk me la
[Kurahdeel] says: Allahu Ackbar!
[Kirito] says: fuckking goons
[Kurahdeel] says: kekekekekekeke
[Godfrey] says: MY UNCLE WORKS AT MICROSOFT U FUKKING FAGET
[Kirito] says: OoooOOOOoooOoO
...
[Kirito] says: holy hsit that was close
[Asuna] says: omg i cant belive you pkd him Lol
[Kirito] says: lol
[Kirito] whispers: hey gurl u wanna cyber?

...
[Kirito] says: hey wake up
[Kirito] says: p\oke
[Kirito] says: \pkoe
[Kirito] says: f
[Kirito] says: uck
[Kirito] says: *gently caress
*You poke her in the face with your finger*
[Asuna] says: rear end

:haw:

# ? Sep 9, 2012 04:18

Argas: Jan 13, 2008; SRW Fanatic

Dan7el posted:

I don't think first-strike is quite what we expect. I think you can get minor hits in these duels that don't really count. It's the first really big strike. Sort of like a solid hit in martial arts or even a point in boxing. Boxes hit on each other for up to even a round or two before a point is scored. This is text directly from the baka-tsuki translation, chapter 13 of volume 1:.

I misremembered then. A bit misleading though.

Fairy Dance was kind of bleh to me initially because of what it did to certain characters but it was rather :3:

in the end. Phantom Bullet has kind of an interesting story to it but how Kirito gets involved and what he does is kind of silly to me, even if there's still some cool and interesting moments.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 05:00

AnacondaHL: Feb 15, 2009; I'm the lead trumpet player, playing loud and high is all I know how to do.

Storgar posted:

This is beautiful. I've never seen a more accurate representation.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 05:36

YouTuber: Jul 31, 2004; by FactsAreUseless

paragon1 posted:

You'd think some of the stronger guilds would have gotten together to exterminate laughing coffin, what with them being a menace to the community and ganking prominent guild members and all.

Well if the Laughing Coffin players were stupid enough to be in a proper ingame guild then they deserve to be crushed. If they were intelligent about it they would handle it more in as an informal guild functioning in a cell format with groups of maybe 5 answering to a handler.

Any attempt to really exterminate them would be more of a witch hunts. In real life the best serial killers were usually the most charismatic person in the room. Though I was rather disappointed with Kuradeel's motivation. He was just a generic sociopath who just loved to kill. I'd rather the Laughing Coffin people be more a group with some offbeat religious fervor guiding them, like it's a divine mission to "kill" people to release them from the game while outright refusing to believe it killed them in real life.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 05:54

ConanThe3rd: Mar 27, 2009

Argas posted:

I misremembered then. A bit misleading though.

Fairy Dance was kind of bleh to me initially because of what it did to certain characters but it was rather in the end. Phantom Bullet has kind of an interesting story to it but how Kirito gets involved and what he does is kind of silly to me, even if there's still some cool and interesting moments.

Really, Fairy Dance is more the story of the aftermath of SAO and Kirito's sister getting the hell over herself than anything else.

Phantom Bullet fells like an endgame for a larger arc where Kirito's recruited to some sort of Rockman. Exe net police shenanigans which doesn't actually exist and I don't care much for it. It's like some slipped in a Linkin park song into my easy listening play list.

Kinda sad that Mother's Risotto will probably not be in this season. That's a really good young adult SciFi story.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 07:24

Zettace: Nov 30, 2009

I wonder if the players themselves hear that beeping sound (the one that always plays when we get a first person view or a view of the menus). It would be pretty annoying if it was on constantly.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 08:26

Damone: May 3, 2009

Zettace posted:

I wonder if the players themselves hear that beeping sound (the one that always plays when we get a first person view or a view of the menus). It would be pretty annoying if it was on constantly.

It kind of sounds like their breathing in real life, or heart beat. So maybe it's a Nervegear thing of letting the player know he's still alive or something.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 10:56

ConanThe3rd: Mar 27, 2009

Zettace posted:

I wonder if the players themselves hear that beeping sound (the one that always plays when we get a first person view or a view of the menus). It would be pretty annoying if it was on constantly.

Which one? The Low HP one that was sounding as Kirito was getting his christmas thoroughly hosed or the woosy sound we get when we see HP Bars and the like? Cuz I'll bet Low HP but not the Woosy.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 11:24

Gearhead: Feb 13, 2007; The Metroid of Humor

ConanThe3rd posted:

Kirito was getting his christmas thoroughly hosed

Wouldn't that have been Halloween? :haw:

Gearhead fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Sep 9, 2012

# ? Sep 9, 2012 15:38

ConanThe3rd: Mar 27, 2009

Gearhead posted:

Wouldn't that have been Halloween?

Technically yes. But that'd be less tragic.

Also, I had to laugh somewhat at the fact that losing a hand is only a mild inconvenience to Kirito at this point, he barely loses a 5th of his HP bar

ConanThe3rd fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Sep 9, 2012

# ? Sep 9, 2012 19:58

Einander: Sep 14, 2008; "Yeh've forged a magnificent sword."

"This one's only practice. The real sword I intend to forge will be three times longer."

"Can there really be a sword as monstrous as that in this world?"

"Yes. I can see that sword... Somewhere out there..."

That kind of injury isn't immediately dangerous to survival. Blood loss is the real danger, and he had a status effect that was probably a combination bleed + holy poo poo your hand is gone. So yeah, a fifth of the HP bar is actually an overestimate of the short-term damage involved.

I kind of like how they represented the end of the duel, just by virtue of what I heard someone say about it. It was unintentionally hilarious in the best way.

(Serious light novel volume 1 spoilers)

I heard someone basically comment, "I got the impression that Heathcliff won by stopping time, and I don't think that was intended. Someone messed up with the scene direction." You don't say. :v:

# ? Sep 9, 2012 20:24

ConanThe3rd: Mar 27, 2009

Dan7el posted:

I don't think first-strike is quite what we expect. I think you can get minor hits in these duels that don't really count. It's the first really big strike. Sort of like a solid hit in martial arts or even a point in boxing. Boxes hit on each other for up to even a round or two before a point is scored.

To keep with the Video Game analogy, most fighting games won't give you the round until you score a clean hit (IE: A hit that doesn't result in Chip Damage) so a dood could be at 1hp indeterminately if you let them.

ConanThe3rd fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Sep 9, 2012

# ? Sep 9, 2012 20:27

Argas: Jan 13, 2008; SRW Fanatic

I wonder if you can still access the menu if you have your hand chopped off.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 20:34

ConanThe3rd: Mar 27, 2009

Argas posted:

I wonder if you can still access the menu if you have your hand chopped off.

You still have your other hand, right? Besides that, the game seems to work on Namekian rules.

# ? Sep 9, 2012 21:07

Alectai: Dec 31, 2008; It doesn't matter how long I live, I will never have a hat as dashing as this.

Watched it, I actually like how they Didn't explicitly point out the bit of foreshadowing that was in the Duel was anything but just an OP skill, it's going to make it pretty fun when that Chekov's Gun goes off

Alectai fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Sep 9, 2012

# ? Sep 9, 2012 22:07

Sylvyfish: Feb 16, 2012; We can't get hung up on real world morality.

So, question for you light novel readers. Do they explain how Kirito gets his hand back? I mean I saw the debuff icon, but I'm curious if it just grows back after the debuff wears off or does he have to go to a priest or a hospital or something?

# ? Sep 9, 2012 23:52

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; Let's Clock Into The Sunset Together; Fun Shoe

Sylvyfish posted:

So, question for you light novel readers. Do they explain how Kirito gets his hand back? I mean I saw the debuff icon, but I'm curious if it just grows back after the debuff wears off or does he have to go to a priest or a hospital or something?

From the light novel about how damage in a location works (spoiler related to this most recent episode, nothing big from the novel): "I pulled Asuna in closer with the left arm that had the body part loss status imposed on it for three minutes." So basically if you get a limb lopped off you can't use it and get a penalty for what I assume is 3 minutes after the battle ends (or until some sort of healing is specially used), from a logic standpoint.

# ? Sep 10, 2012 00:10

Argas: Jan 13, 2008; SRW Fanatic

ConanThe3rd posted:

You still have your other hand, right? Besides that, the game seems to work on Namekian rules.

Well, both hands then. Does lack of a hand impair one's ability to use the interface? It sounds like a hilarious potential grief were it a normal MMO.

# ? Sep 10, 2012 00:56

Namnesor: Jun 29, 2005; Dante's allowance - $100

All ya'll are wasting your time, the interface is used with the right hand :mmmhmm:

The light novel never really goes into it, because the situation never comes up (this is the only time anyone ever loses a limb in SAO), but I imagine it's kind of a phantom limb-type situation. The hand may be gone, but Kirito obviously didn't lose it for ~~real~~virtual, so if he were to do the motions, I suspect the UI would react accordingly.

# ? Sep 10, 2012 01:04

Rexides: Jul 25, 2011

I, for one, am glad to finally see Kirito get his rear end handed to him by a player who has put forth both the effort to be the best in the game and forge the best guild. And I honestly don't think that the whole duel deal was about not letting Azuna go, she would party with Kirito for a short time anyway. It was all just so he could get the second best player in the game into his guild.

What I am saying is, Heathcliff is my favorite character in the show right now.

# ? Sep 10, 2012 11:18

Gearhead: Feb 13, 2007; The Metroid of Humor

Heathcliff is, easily, one of the most complicated characters in the setting.

I do like to think that Kirito seems so important because he's just the focus of the tale we're reading/seeing. Klein feels like the hero of a different story a lot of the time to me. Not ALL the women fall for Kirito.

# ? Sep 10, 2012 11:48

Pyronic: Oct 1, 2008; ROYAL RAINWHARRGARBL

Alectai posted:

Watched it, I actually like how they Didn't explicitly point out the bit of foreshadowing that was in the Duel was anything but just an OP skill, it's going to make it pretty fun when that Chekov's Gun goes off

LN Novel Spoiler: The translation I read made it sound like Heathcliff swapped which hand was holding the shield and which was holding the sword and that was how he beat kirito but what did they even show here? the shield moved faster or something?

Rexides posted:

I, for one, am glad to finally see Kirito get his rear end handed to him by a player who has put forth both the effort to be the best in the game and forge the best guild. And I honestly don't think that the whole duel deal was about not letting Azuna go, she would party with Kirito for a short time anyway. It was all just so he could get the second best player in the game into his guild.

What I am saying is, Heathcliff is my favorite character in the show right now.

hahahahahahahahaha

Oh man I'm saving this post for quoting later.

Pyronic fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Sep 10, 2012

# ? Sep 10, 2012 11:56

Amarkov: Jun 21, 2010

Pyronic posted:

LN Novel Spoiler: The translation I read made it sound like Heathcliff swapped which hand was holding the shield and which was holding the sword and that was how he beat kirito but what did they even show here? the shield moved faster or something?

Continuing LN spoiler (and also anime spoiler if for some reason you only care about that): They choreographed it to imply time had stopped. They did it pretty well too, multiple people have apparently complained about how they messed up :3

# ? Sep 10, 2012 12:21

kater: Nov 16, 2010

Rexides posted:

What I am saying is, Heathcliff is my favorite character in the show right now.

40 year old camping out in line for an MMO.

Turns out to be surprisingly competent in managerial position.

# ? Sep 10, 2012 12:32

Zalgo: Oct 21, 2009; He͔̻̖͕ ͕͈̺͕̜c̯̜͇̲o̜͖̦m͙es͔̞̬̗͙.̥

Pyronic posted:

LN Novel Spoiler: The translation I read made it sound like Heathcliff swapped which hand was holding the shield and which was holding the sword and that was how he beat kirito but what did they even show here? the shield moved faster or something?

An interesting way to show item swapping, which tends to be an instant action in MMOs. The fact that Kirito saw it happen in slo-mo is the silly part though.

# ? Sep 10, 2012 12:40

cooldude2.0: Oct 12, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Rexides posted:

I, for one, am glad to finally see Kirito get his rear end handed to him by a player who has put forth both the effort to be the best in the game and forge the best guild. And I honestly don't think that the whole duel deal was about not letting Azuna go, she would party with Kirito for a short time anyway. It was all just so he could get the second best player in the game into his guild.

What I am saying is, Heathcliff is my favorite character in the show right now.

Yeah, good job Heathcliff, now if only you didn't instantly almost get that 2nd best player killed, and lose Asuna in the process. That's a lot down the drain from poor management.

This series is hard for me to predict, but I'm guessing life on floor 22 will have it's fair share of assassination attempts.

# ? Sep 10, 2012 17:16

Alectai: Dec 31, 2008; It doesn't matter how long I live, I will never have a hat as dashing as this.

Pyronic posted:

LN Novel Spoiler: The translation I read made it sound like Heathcliff swapped which hand was holding the shield and which was holding the sword and that was how he beat kirito but what did they even show here? the shield moved faster or something?

Actually

NOVEL SPOILERS AHEAD

(Removed spoiler because it was a bit much)

It actually explains why a Certain Thing happens at the 75th floor boss.

Alectai fucked around with this message at 06:57 on Sep 13, 2012

# ? Sep 10, 2012 18:21

Bakanogami: Dec 31, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Alectai posted:

Spoiler stuff

Might wanna mark that as being novel spoilers, buddy.

After reading the novels last week, finally caught up with the thread since I didn't want to risk getting spoiled.

They're not exactly high fiction, but I really enjoyed the novels as a light read. The anime's been pretty good too, and is finally getting over its biggest weakness (having a different side story every episode). They kind of start to stretch for premises in the later arcs and the villains are always terribly characterized, but I still enjoyed everything up to the latest Alicization arc, which is just weird.

Honestly what intrigues me most is whether/how the author's going to link SAO to Accel World. Some people are still saying that they're unrelated, but the timeline matches up right, there's that one bit of official fanfiction where Kirito and Silver Crow fight, and the Nerve Gear even got mentioned in the latest episode of AW.

Not to mention (light later novel spoilers)the whole concept running behind the Alicization arc seems to be the foundations for what could later become Brain Burst. They even have the chekov's gun set up in AW of not revealing Kuroyukihime's real name, with the easiest potential conclusion being that she could be the daughter of Kirito and Asuna.

# ? Sep 10, 2012 21:23

ConanThe3rd: Mar 27, 2009

That said, the actions (or lack thereof) of Snow Black's parents do NOT gel with what we know of Kirito and Asuna.

# ? Sep 10, 2012 21:50

Bakanogami: Dec 31, 2004; Grimey Drawer

ConanThe3rd posted:

That said, the actions (or lack thereof) of Snow Black's parents do NOT gel with what we know of Kirito and Asuna.

Watch it turn out that they're terrible parents who spend all their time playing MMOs.

# ? Sep 10, 2012 22:14

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# ? Jun 2, 2024 17:11

Einander: Sep 14, 2008; "Yeh've forged a magnificent sword."

"This one's only practice. The real sword I intend to forge will be three times longer."

"Can there really be a sword as monstrous as that in this world?"

"Yes. I can see that sword... Somewhere out there..."

ConanThe3rd posted:

That said, the actions (or lack thereof) of Snow Black's parents do NOT gel with what we know of Kirito and Asuna.

How far are you spoiled on the light novels?

Edit: I mean Accel World.

Einander fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Sep 10, 2012

# ? Sep 10, 2012 23:24

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > VEGETA > Sword Art Online - You die in the game, you die for real

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