But this quickly leads to quickly tapping through the text to get to the unlockable CG. By maxing out their affection, you can have "pillow talk" with them in your bed which eventually leads to a special CG.Īs silly as this sounds, it is an interesting mechanic - at first. Timing is key here, and if you do things correctly, you'll be able to hold hands with the other person or even carry them like a princess. The goal is to read the mood and behave according to the person's feelings, like whether you are in fact listening.Īs these conversations develop, you can make a bold move to deepen the relationship. During these intimate moments when the character really tells you what's on their mind, you can react positively or negatively to what they are saying. Just like in the other Sword Art Online games, you're able to have private conversations with different party members. A lot of time is also spent building relationships with characters. While there are plenty of NPCs to talk to, but most of it is generic dialog. There are only a few stores to visit, making the town feel a bit sparse. You'll spend a lot of the time here buying and selling equipment, crafting items, and checking the job boards for different tasks (most of which are bounties and fetch quests). The game is set around a single hub city. Bottom line: Hollow Realization doesn't know what it wants to be, and that hurts the overall product. All I could do was deal with it and ignore the fact I made an avatar to begin with. It's as if the developers wanted to have Kirito as the main character when all of a sudden a higher up walked into the conference room in the 11th hour and told them to make sure they had a character creator. It reminded me of White Knight Chronicles where I was almost having an out-of-body experience, seeing my avatar run around when the actual main character is present. Everything is told from his perspective, down to the flashbacks of prior events in the canon. Not only that, but the rest of the group treats your character as if he's Kirito regardless of your name and appearance. Sure, I can turn off Kirito's voice off in the game options, but that only makes it a little less awkward. It's more than a little jarring hearing my female character change from a male's voice to a noble lady going desu wa in combat. This also happens during moments where the camera is focused on my player, their mouth lip-syncing to Kirito's voice. Oh, I still got to see the custom avatar I created, but I may as well be playing Kirito because I have to listen to his voice during cutscenes. Hollow Realization introduces a character customization mechanic where you're able to change the gender, hair, face, eyes, shape, and even the voice of the person you control.Īnd then I quickly realized the game provides absolutely no story context for this feature. In other Sword Art Online games, you could only play as Kirito, the main protagonist of the series. Very early on, I ran right into one of my biggest issues. This isn't too dissimilar from my experience with God Eater earlier this year, but at least that game touched on the issues more frequently. The pacing can be all over the place - I quickly lost sight of the overarching narrative shortly into the game. Kirito and his friends are invited to beta test this new game to help ease everyone's concerns, and shortly thereafter the game begins. People around the world were upset they would dare evoke the name that took over 4,000 lives, but the protests slowly quelled over time until the present. A company quietly announces a spiritual successor to Sword Art Online called "Sword Art: Origin", a new game that allows players to port over most of their data from the original SAO to this new project. All the important (living) characters from the anime, Hollow Fragment, and Lost Song making their return. The story takes place shortly after the events of Sword Art Online: Lost Song. Does Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization have what it takes to set it apart from its disappointing brethren? Yes and no. Hollow Fragment had a huge translation problem, while Lost Song fell into a hole of mediocrity. My love may have tapered off a little with Sword Art Online II, but I am always eager for something to renew my enjoyment.īut even though Sword Art Online takes place inside an MMORPG, this experience hasn't transitioned well to video games. To me, this is an amazing concept that had me hooked from the beginning. hack//Sign came close with a main character who is unable to log off, but when people in SAO died in the game, they died in real life.
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