Sword Art Online

[MFauli]

thx @Kraco, saves me some work. WOW was that bad.

First of all, I don´t get what makes Sinon such a famous, great sniper. That monster she killed just stood there. Anybody with a sniper rifle could have done that. Also, real (lol) videogames never allow such play. Sniping a boss to death? No, even if you can use long-range weapons at all, you´re bound to running around all over the place to evade the boss´ attacks. This one stood there and was out after a few shots ... which is realistic, but not impressive.

One of my biggest gripes with this episode, though: Sinon kills the first guy, tries to hit the cloak guy, misses ... and stops. And gives up. And, to top all this stupidity off, APPROACHES the opponents. Yes, decreasing the distance between yourself and the enemy makes total sense for a FUCKING SNIPER! argh. And before anyone writes "well, cloak guy was clearly able to dodge her attacks and knew about her position": He dodges ONE bullet. And even if he had continued to doge, Sinon would have at least kept him from attacking the other guys, averting his attention to her, thus opening chances for an attack of their own. The way she acted was ANTI-support.

Then the "leader" being all scared when he lost hope. WHY was he scared? Moreover, he himself saif "it´s just a game". Fucking L O L. Yes, its just a game, so please scream and cry like some spineless douche. Even if there is some heavy punishment for dying in-game, his behavior was too out-of-place. And then there´s the fact that IF there was a high penalty for dying, any game like that would NOT let you log out just when it´s getting dangerous for yourself. If that were possible, everyone would always just log out before dying, thus creating a shitty quitter-game. Reminds me of the times in Mario Kart DS, where quitting a game would have no negative impact on your score.

And what was it about "winning" anyway? The leader sacrificed himself to throw a grenade into the enemy group. Why? He made the conscious effort to hire Sinon, yet by being offed, he won´t get any loot. Since it is "just a game", none of this made any sense.

The resonable complaints about the end scene between Sinon and cloak guy were already explained by Kraco.

And Silica and the girls need to get a life asap. Wasting your time in a game that has been made open to hacking and adding stuff at random, thus taking away any sort of relevance for looting and leveling, is idiotic.

Closing comment: I´m 100% sure the author/production team made up the "He´s strong enough to smile on the battlefield"-line only to troll everybody. Wow, that line is so dumb, it makes my brains hurt. Fuck, I cannot get over just HOW dumb it is. Arfghg

[Kraco]

Holy shit.

I know this wasn't aimed at me, but chill the fuck out.

I know it was aimed at me, but I've already explained that in my wishful thinking I interpreted the scenes of the first episode in a way that made me think it's a relatively serious gun fighting simulator, not a simple-minded shooter. I believe it's not unreasonable to be disappointed when the second episode proved it was, after all, just a cheap SAO derivative with guns and laser rifles thrown in. Believe me of not, but I'd have badmouthed this far less if it was more like a VR version of Arma, perhaps with some RPG elements included to make character development more concrete.

Whilst I dislike many (too many) things about SAO, I will still watch this till the end for the high production values alone. Unlike Ryll, I also enjoy the fact there are genuine fans here who will oppose my unfairly hard criticism. I have probably been in that role myself with some other shows.

[deathnightwc3]

That was a rather lackluster episode. Maybe if they explained WHY they didn't want to die, it might have given me more excitement but since they didn't. All I can think of is that it's only a game and they were PKing. Of course there is going to be a risk of being killed. I guess I just didn't feel the tension they were trying to build.

[DarthEnderX]

I'm taken aback by how two or three of the SAO LN legion flock to defend even the most minor of criticism directed at it.

To be fair, any attempt to argue realism is a REALLY dumb criticism.

Last I checked, Arma doesn't have giant fire beam shooting monsters in it...

Yes, decreasing the distance between yourself and the enemy makes total sense for a FUCKING SNIPER!

Obviously, since it's a game where you can detect incoming fire and dodge, it makes total sense.

Less range for the bullet to travel=less time to dodge.

Hence, why the shot at close range took his visor off instead of easily being side-stepped.

And even if he had continued to doge, Sinon would have at least kept him from attacking the other guys, averting his attention to her, thus opening chances for an attack of their own. The way she acted was ANTI-support.

Very true. But she also obviously has some kind of psychological issue. Once she saw him smiling(which, yeah, don't know why that's weird, guy is playing a video game and kicking ass, you SHOULD be smiling, or else why play?), she was insistent that she kill him. I don't know if she hates smiling guys, or she thinks defeating smiling guys will unlock the secrets of happiness, but she obviously wasn't willing to play support after that happened.

Even if there is some heavy punishment for dying in-game, his behavior was too out-of-place. And then there´s the fact that IF there was a high penalty for dying, any game like that would NOT let you log out just when it´s getting dangerous for yourself.

You say that, but have you never seen one of those fat sacks of shit on a livestream break down into tears on a raid wipe before? It happens. There are people who are just that lame.

And Silica and the girls need to get a life asap. Wasting your time in a game that has been made open to hacking and adding stuff at random, thus taking away any sort of relevance for looting and leveling, is idiotic.

Yeah, because they couldn't possibly just be playing for fun or anything. That's why everyone plays Minecraft right? For progression?


I swear, you people must be the most miserable fucks to play video games with.

[Buffalobiian]

Ohh yeah okay that makes a lot more sense now. I never played EQ so I didn't think about that kind of functionality. That makes me feel better about that scene then. Still don't get the "he's smiling" shit though

If you look back to all the scenes where Sinon fights monsters, she's never smiling. Everyone says she's strong, but she never "enjoys" her fights per se. You could argue that she let out her breath after fighting the monster boss because of sniping technique... or because she was tense. Given what happened this episode (comments about smiling, less realism than expected), I'd give the latter more weight. That's the significance of the smiling bodyguard. He's strong enough that he can smile on the battlefield. Sinon thought that if she could defeat someone like that, perhaps she'll be able to feel confident and enjoy her fights as well.

In regards to "Why did Sinon run after she missed", the guy commented before about providing Sinon 60 seconds to re-ID the opponent or something if she missed. That means missing a shot has penalties. I'm going to hypothesise that it has to do with bullet trajectories. I think it could be one of two mechanics:

1) If someone is looking in the general direction of you, they can see your shot trajectory. However, if you scope them long enough to "ID" them, then the game turns that off, as if to say that you have the jump on that guy. This goes away if you miss or if you re-locate, which takes an extra 60 seconds.

2) In general, people can't spot bullets unless they're "engaged" in a firefight. That means being shot at and surviving it. To sear off your "engaged" status, you'll have to hide out of sight for 60 seconds.

That would be what makes Sinon a great sniper: close to 100% accuracy. Because if you're sniping and you miss/give your position away, your efficacy goes way down.

As for her combating the boss monster and it just standing there, maybe she's taking it on outside of its engagement range. She's able to get shots off at it due to her gun/skill, while the monster isn't able to engage since it can't see/detect her due to either stealth, or engagement distance/mechanics.

Given that this is VR, dying might be a more daunting experience than having GAME OVER printed over your screen. Pain was reproduced in SAO, it might happen here. Imagine that the gun sounds, the earth and the atmosphere all feel real, with the only difference being that when you die, you actually don't. If you're only worried about the consequence of dying then it's no big deal. However, I'd say that the experience of dying for the most part is scarier than the consequence (after all, who knows what the consequence is besides you stop moving..).

[DarthEnderX]

As for her combating the boss monster and it just standing there, maybe she's taking it on outside of its engagement range. She's able to get shots off at it due to her gun/skill, while the monster isn't able to engage since it can't see/detect her due to either stealth, or engagement distance/mechanics.

It was definitely just that the monsters ranged attack couldn't reach her(which would make sense against a sniper), because it shot RIGHT at her. It simply dissipated before hitting her.

[Kraco]

I imagine Sinon couldn't stand a smiling guy in a battle because she could have been an original SAO player and met some smiling PKing scumbag. Otherwise, like has been said, it ought to be natural to smile when your game is going well or you expect it will go well. Especially in MP, which is social gaming.

[Ryllharu]

I assume it is some real-world trauma, judging from the OP scene with the swing set and a even younger Sinon in phantom. Plus the way she's shaking when she wakes up in the real world. Combined with the mopey music and the arm over her face, it's not just post-gameplay adrenaline withdrawal. Then you have the entirety of the ED.

This series is not exactly subtle.

Aren't Kirito and Asuna always claiming that VR has the power to heal? That's why it is so bad that corrupt people keep fucking with the games. Sugu was using it for much of the same reason, to bridge the gap of understanding between her and her beloved comatose onii-chan.

(VR being used to heal is actually true in real life as it turns out.)

[Buffalobiian]

I imagine Sinon couldn't stand a smiling guy in a battle because she could have been an original SAO player and met some smiling PKing scumbag. Otherwise, like has been said, it ought to be natural to smile when your game is going well or you expect it will go well. Especially in MP, which is social gaming.

It didn't sound to me like she couldn't stand him, but more like she wanted to be him. Those were not words of annoyance, but more akin to admiration/desire (if you could call it such).

It was definitely just that the monsters ranged attack couldn't reach her(which would make sense against a sniper), because it shot RIGHT at her. It simply dissipated before hitting her.

Ah, I'd forgotten that it actually tried shooting back. I assumed she was within range, but that she killed the monster before the monster's attack could hit her.

[Kraco]

Ah, I'd forgotten that it actually tried shooting back. I assumed she was within range, but that she killed the monster before the monster's attack could hit her.

No. It tried to shoot back like some monster without a path finding algorithm from a 90's game trying to walk through a wall to reach the player. Which is why I said the monster is simply a thing ported over from SAO but never reprogrammed to understand that in a game with modern (or even future) weapons nobody (except Kirito) will engage the thing in a melee fight. So, it just stupidly stood in one place and then tried to randomly shoot around before dying. If all the monsters are like that, any serious players would only fight humanoid NPCs (assuming they at least can use guns) or other players. Unless one can only get new, better weapons by harvesting monsters, harvesting being the key word since the monsters don't fight back any more than a stalk of wheat.

[DarthEnderX]

If all the monsters are like that, any serious players would only fight humanoid NPCs (assuming they at least can use guns) or other players.

I don't know why you think humanoid NPCs would fare any better.

The thing HAD a ranged attack, and while it couldn't reach her, it came close enough to blast her in the face with heat from it's dissipating attack. Which means anyone that WASN'T at sniper range could probably have easily been shot.

Any Humanoid NPC without a sniper rifle, or some kind of artillery would have been equally unable to return fire at her.

[Kraco]

I don't know why you think humanoid NPCs would fare any better.

Any Humanoid NPC without a sniper rifle, or some kind of artillery would have been equally unable to return fire at her.

Yeah, I don't know either, but I imagine humanoid NPCs could have a bit better AI than this monster thing as they would depend on guns the same as players. Besides, a decent sniper usually gets the first shot in (unless it's a small moving target), but what happens next is a different thing. The squad or company the NPC belonged to should proceed to hunt down the sniper with some kind of rudimentary but still potentially dangerous tactics. That's how it goes in games (excluding games where NPCs don't react when the man next to them is killed, but I'm sure GGO is not that bad).

[DarthEnderX]

The squad or company the NPC belonged to should proceed to hunt down the sniper with some kind of rudimentary but still potentially dangerous tactics. That's how it goes in games

Uh, no. There's not a single game out there that has AI that's that advanced, so I don't know wtf you're talking about. Games now either have NPCs know where you are automatically located once you've opened fire the first time(90% of them do this), or they'll start a search, completely at random, wandering around looking for the player, in the area where they are, rather than in the area where the shot probably came from.

Granted SWO's games are obviously vastly more advanced than current games, and thusly should have much more advanced AI.

[KrayZ33]

That PvE scene was indeed very odd.

The only thing I can come up with which could explain what happened is if Sinon exploited that Boss encounter... its not really rare in MMOs per se and since she was camping on an elevated position (with all these empty magazines next to her) I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ6J_94mN9I

as reference.. kinda difficult to explain, but it happens in pretty much every single MMO and its horribly foul play of course.

[Kraco]

Yeah, well, that's what I called rudimentary tactics. There are games that can send a group of enemies circle to your side or rear, as well. Rudimentarily that's exactly what humans players would do as well. No games so far try to guess what you would do next or would really adapt to your following actions, but that's not really necessary in cases like this, where there ought to be a whole bunch of AI controlled NPCs vs few humans, which is typically the situation (as opposed to some mega monster last boss battle).

Let's not forget, however, that this game engine already supports a highly advanced AI like Yui, so theoretically there could be NPCs that would use sophisticated tactics. I just won't believe in that before I see it after these couple of eps. GGO looks like a simple shooter, so it would have no use for intelligent enemies and likely the players would dislike them.

[MFauli]

episode 3 is out!
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It´s almost impressive how dumb this anime is. Having no action for a whole episode is terrible.

[MasterOfMoogles]

Yea, can't believe they would actually focus on the backstory of the new character.

[Kraco]

Yea, can't believe they would actually focus on the backstory of the new character.

Did they listen to the audience feedback criticism about how overly fast the beginning of SAO was with the constant time jumps and now they made a 180? This is getting fricking nowhere, except for building a character nobody really can have any interest in yet. After a full season of SAO 1 you can't just simply throw in some wacko girl with a sob backstory and expect everybody will enjoy every second of her on screen. I'm far more interested in the frickin Death Gun than this girl that gets more and more boring with every episode.

The only remotely intriguing thing about her is the trauma, which is 100% faux: She saw the absolute disgust and terror in her mom's eyes, and created instantly the trauma in order not to look like a cold-blooded killer (even if in self-defense) in her sole parent's eyes. So, she's not actually afraid of guns at all; the fact she excels at GGO makes that obvious. Instead, she's deadly afraid of being seen as somebody not afraid of guns, as opposed to a good girl. In the game, however, that doesn't matter because she's not herself in it. Thus getting better and better at gun handling will actually hurt her psyche in RL. Actually this might be the single best written character detail I've seen in SAO. Ironically enough at a first glance it seems ridiculous, which is hardly something SAO should be able to afford.

3 eps in and Kirito still hasn't been seen in GGO is beyond incomprehensible.

[oyabun]

Damn.. Shino kawaisou. I bet she didn't get counseling or post traumatic therapy. She made herself believed being strong in the game would make herself stronger in real life because she was so desperate to be saved.

[Ryllharu]

The only remotely intriguing thing about her is the trauma, which is 100% faux: She saw the absolute disgust and terror in her mom's eyes, and created instantly the trauma in order not to look like a cold-blooded killer (even if in self-defense) in her sole parent's eyes. So, she's not actually afraid of guns at all; the fact she excels at GGO makes that obvious. Instead, she's deadly afraid of being seen as somebody not afraid of guns, as opposed to a good girl. In the game, however, that doesn't matter because she's not herself in it. Thus getting better and better at gun handling will actually hurt her psyche in RL. Actually this might be the single best written character detail I've seen in SAO. Ironically enough at a first glance it seems ridiculous, which is hardly something SAO should be able to afford.

3 eps in and Kirito still hasn't been seen in GGO is beyond incomprehensible.

Unfortunately, any good writing toward her character is overshadowed by the fact that her trauma extends to someone making a finger-gun gesture. That's idiotic.

I'm not opposed to the idea that her trauma comes from her mother being afraid of her or hating her for committing homicide (defensive or otherwise with a gun. It's a very good character development, but unfortunately it is one that I think Kotoura-san did a lot better. The focus shouldn't be on the gun and the outcome, it should be on her mother's reaction. Perhaps the series will get back to that in time. It was a nice touch that she was on the phone with her uncle (or close family friend) rather than with her mother.

This series is really hurting by the fact that Kirito hasn't started the game at all and we're through the third episode. They are dragging it out. Even the ALO arc ended an episode with him at least starting the game and landing physically in it after character creation. They're apparently drawing this episodes out quite a bit.