Sword Art Online

[MasterOfMoogles]

You forum beaters, I didn't even know you could check your rep somewhere. How are us newbs supposed to get stronger without knowing this!?

On a somewhat different topic...
Ignoring the VR aspect and death game, does anyone think a MMO like SAO would be interesting to play?
I like the idea of a MMO where the players actually work towards a goal together and can clear it. I think the perma-character death would also be interesting with PvP. Would people be able to actually clear the game, or would it just be a grief fest?
$1 to create a character and play, but if you die, you're dead. You could offer incentives to kill the reds.

The grindy part of it doesn't seem like it would be that good, but I could imagine things where maybe as floors are cleared, players below could get benefits towards leveling or something.
I'm not really sure how you could capture the feel of the battle system, either.

[Ryllharu]

Instant grief fest.

The only thing that is keeping the non-psychopaths in the game from running around PK-ing each other is the threat of real death, and even that doesn't work if they're like Rosalia and don't believe it.

I'm a bit surprised the GM hasn't shown them reports of bodies, doing a public display to prove his point. I suppose you can always argue that he can fake it all, so it is really all pointless. The psychopaths are going to murder other people and probably get off on it.

[MasterOfMoogles]

I guess you're right. You don't think there would be enough people interested in actually clearing it to self-police? EVE Online is pretty free-reign on PvP isn't it? Is it a big grief fest?

The simple fact that they've been in the game longer than a few days should be enough for everyone to realize how real it is.
If there wasn't a threat of death, people would have just removed them from the game forcefully, or shut down the servers.

It is actually really interesting to think about what would happen in the real world if someone could take people hostage remotely and automatically like this.
Could they even arrest this guy if he said "Without me inputting a code every day, everyone within the game will die."?
Would you be willing to see if he is serious after a couple hundred people already died?

[Ryllharu]

EVE is 95% griefing. That's pretty much the whole point. News stories are written about the biggest takedowns.

Unfortunately, the only people who know the truth about the designer's claims are the ones on the outside. He has utter control over the inside of the game, he can show the players whatever he wants.

[deathnightwc3]

Can anyone explain to me how these people are still alive in the game with so much time passed? Or is the game's time a lot faster than real time?

[darkshadow]

Obviously all 8000 players have been hooked up to IV's and receive daily medical maintenance...

[Archangel]

Did you know there's a directly proportional relationship between how many times you say obviously and how much i want to kick you in the nads?

[Hitokiri]

Can anyone explain to me how these people are still alive in the game with so much time passed? Or is the game's time a lot faster than real time?

They'll touch on that later on.

[Y]

...

I don't understand why you would think this is an acceptable post. It's both a spoiler and something that doesn't answer his question in any meaningful way.

[Ryllharu]

[HorribleSubs] Sword Art Online - 05 (720p)


---------------



WTF? A random mystery two-parter? The writing in this show is distinctly terrible compared to the hype behind it. This episode was generic trash, the kind of crap that is distinctly filler, just because the author gets bored with the main plot. Extra chapters exclusive to the manga volumes stuff.

The only reason I keep watching is because the insistence of the novel readers that it is good, but so far, this series is only barely on par with The Sacred Blacksmith (which in case you've never seen it, sucked).

At this point, I am beginning to sincerely doubt that this illusive main plot will somehow redeem all these terrible filler episodes. I'm just not seeing how any part of this would somehow make these utterly generic fantasy themed episodes "deeper" or more moving.

[Y]

Forums? More like chatlogs.

<&Y> lol
<&Y> latest stop on the "Kirito is crazy" train
<&Y> he wants the battle plan to protect the fucking NPCs
<&Y> oh cool
<&Y> Asuna is now commander of a guild and has the total opposite personality from the last time we saw her
<&Y> glad all that development took place offscreen
<%Ryllharu> *vice-commander
<%Ryllharu> But point stands.
<&Y> he is actively refusing to participate lol
<&Y> this guy is a FUCKING PSYCHO
<&Y> killing a bunch of people through inaction? meh. luring the boss into conflict with npcs? war crime.
<%Ryllharu> It gets better Y, wait for the discussion of fairness and another dose of admiration for the creator
<&Y> "That's what I said, but I never expected her to actually do it"
<&Y> Kirito is the kind of guy who would hold an ingame funeral whenever the leader of the Horde gets killed by a raid of bored Alliance at 4AM
<&Y> oh yeah I love that 2 years later Kirito hasn't aged
<&Y> despite the game explicitly using your real face
<&Y> the sense of time and space in this series is really distorted
<&Y> like months/years pass abruptly and with little reason
<&Y> i guess you could write that up as a cheeky comment on how much of your life MMOs eat up
<&Y> Kiirito leaving the rest of the guys to do all the work, and of course the girl is the one who comes around to HIS perspective, not him coming to his fucking senses
<&Y> so far Asuna has been on camera for less than 30 seconds
<&Y> and 2 of the shots of her are a panty shot and a "sprawled out sleeping" shot
<&Y> ok, I can be positive too - someone getting town killed is exactly the kind of integration of the MMO setting I was just bitching about not having
<&Y> of course it's someone offscreen pushing the boundaries of the world instead of our characters, but still
<&Y> haha a gag where Kirito gets his hand crushed by Asuna! except no one feels pain, so the gag doesn't make any fucking sense
<&Y> another girl who apparently has purple anime hair irl
<&Y> the dev is pretty lazy
<&Y> he let a well known town kill bug stay live for 6 months?
<&Y> must be too busy jacking off to dead japanese girls

[deathnightwc3]

Considering how limited they are on episodes, I'm afraid that the main plot is going to be gutted pretty badly. =(

[Buffalobiian]

<&Y> haha a gag where Kirito gets his hand crushed by Asuna! except no one feels pain, so the gag doesn't make any fucking sense

It makes more sense that people should feel pain. Thus, the hand-gag does work. The part last episode where Kirito just let people cut him up shouldn't.

Purple is a real colour in anime. >_>

I can understand his thinking about NPCs somewhat. It depends on how advanced they are in terms of AI I guess as well.

Imagine if this wasn't SAO but in real life in the future.. and replace the NPCs with "Androids"/"Robots". Depending on their intelligence level, you can very well develop an attachment with them. If they're designed to simulate real humans, it's not absurd to think people can treat them as such.

Things with Asuna certainly didn't go the way I thought it would have. It's a surprise, but I wouldn't say I'm glad to see it.

As for the idea that no one's aging.. they didn't say whether the neurogear keeps syncing up with your appearance on a regular basis, right? That'd mean if you didn't get a haircut IRL, then doing so in the game is useless because it'd keep re-syncing.

Not to mention appearances don't have to change terribly much after 2 years.. if at all.

In terms of timeflow.. this could well be a prototype for Brain Burst.

[Y]

It makes more sense that people should feel pain. Thus, the hand-gag does work. The part last episode where Kirito just let people cut him up shouldn't.

Kirito in the first episode states that you don't feel any pain from combat in SAO.

Purple is a real colour in anime. >_>

The point is that the writers obviously forgot everyone is supposed to look like they do in real life as soon as it was introduced. There are literally no fat, old, or extremely unattractive people after that one sight-gag and in every episode a woman is introduced who looks like a supermodel or a completely ridiculous anime character. I guess in the world of SAO, only extremely attractive women with impossible hair colors play MMORPGs.

I can understand his thinking about NPCs somewhat. It depends on how advanced they are in terms of AI I guess as well.

Your arms must be tired from doing all that stretching. Kirito is so engrossed in the false world they live in that he has concerns for the lives of respawning computer scripts. This very explicitly ISN'T flawless simulations of mankind, it's the fucking item shop vendors and town guards. There's a reason Asuna treats his suggestion to preserve the NPCs as crazy: He be crazy.

[Buffalobiian]

Your arms must be tired from doing all that stretching. Kirito is so engrossed in the false world they live in that he has concerns for the lives of respawning computer scripts. This very explicitly ISN'T flawless simulations of mankind, it's the fucking item shop vendors and town guards. There's a reason Asuna treats his suggestion to preserve the NPCs as crazy: He be crazy.

Is immersing yourself in a world you can't escape from (at the moment) something you should really call crazy?

Kirito's enjoying the game as he goes. He sees it as an experience, almost like a second, alternate life.

Asuna at the beginning sees the game as an obstacle that's getting in the way between her and the real world. She doesn't care for the process.

There's nothing wrong with seeing your participants in SAO as people, regardless of whether they're "real" outside of the world. It's not like Kirito is faced with the decision of choosing between:

a) Sacrificing the NPCs so they can get out of SAO, and
b) Spare the NPCs and stay stuck on your current floor forever.

[David75]

Does anyone think a NPC could be used for those in town killings?

[Buffalobiian]

Does anyone think a NPC could be used for those in town killings?

I hadn't thought of that.. but that's interesting. How would you think it'd work?

Hiring an NPC assassin? Provoking an NPC and framing someone else so the NPC goes for someone else?

[David75]

We've got magic items, magicians and the likes. They could manipulate NPC's as tools, program them into doing THIS at THIS time to THAT person.

It's the dagger throw that had me think that, as I see NPC's they are pretty much like any other "human", same abilities. They are able to throw a dagger too. The only tricky part is that you should never be able to control them that much. But who knows, since PK is all about details...

Another thing that's bugging me, That purple hair girl dies from just one dagger?
She's already in the late 50 floors, she should have high enough HP to recover from a normal dagger.
Like the other guy should be able to recover from a normal spear.
I understand that weapons get deadlier when you get more HPs, it's just that they did not underline that. It even came to me as these are totally plain/normal weapons. So why do they kill people with respectable HPs so easily?

[Buffalobiian]

We've got magic items, magicians and the likes.

There are healing and revival items, but in general I think they said before that SAO is characteristically void of mages and spells, right?

I understand that weapons get deadlier when you get more HPs, it's just that they did not underline that. It even came to me as these are totally plain/normal weapons. So why do they kill people with respectable HPs so easily?

It could be a skill that grants you a critical/sneak hit multiplier.

[David75]

No magic?
Forgot about that, especially when some players get skills that ressemble divination... or revelations about weapons for example.

Regardind the use of NPC, my guess is that using one a a tool to kill would still get you the kill. So use one that will use another NPC... I know, it's largely stretched. But I guess you could die from rocks falling on you, drowning and the likes. So potentially NPCs could accidentally kill you.
Now the details are how you control those accidents...