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[Komatsu]

Developer(s): Aquria
Publisher(s): Bandai Namco Games
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam (PC)
Release Date: July 10th, 2020
Genre: JRPG

"Kirito has awoken in a mysterious yet somehow familiar virtual world where AIs behave like humans. In this world, Kirito meets a young man named Eugeo. They make a promise where their destinies will soon become entwined. To keep that promise and stay together, they must venture onwards. "

Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris is set in a medieval world ruled by a Church, whose will and complex "taboo index" is enforced by a mysterious knightly caste. Our protagonist, Kirito, finds himself immersed in this environment, without a way back out to his "reality", and completely unaware of how and when he got there. Now he must find his way out.

Unlike all previous Sword Art Online games, Alicization Lycoris is a (liberal) adaptation of the anime and does not follow the separate video game continuity.

Q: This game follows the Alicization arc of the anime. What made you decide to follow the canon anime storyline instead of creating a game-specific storyline?

When describing the Alicization Arc, in order to express the vast world of the original work and the anime, we came to the conclusion that the opening part should be the same between the anime and the game. We wanted to explore themes of the original work such as Kirito and Eugio’s friendship, Artificial Intelligence, the differences among humans, what defines a spirit and so on. It is straightforward even for those who watch the anime or read the original work but haven’t played the previous games, so I think it is easier to jump in.

Q: Were there any challenges in adapting the anime storyline into a video game?

As you know, the volume of the first half of the Alicization anime is colossal. I assumed we could actually make a game out of the first 24 episodes. With that massive volume in mind, it was challenging to adapt the story in a way that it could coexist with the gameplay. We made sure players can play the anime story in the game without feeling stressed.

Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris marks a new era of Sword Art Online games, both graphically and narratively. This is an adventure for fans and newcomers that truly builds upon this virtual world through new characters and hundreds of quests. The downside is that you may have to clear a lengthy first chapter to discover everything it has to offer, but luckily for those who do, there’s so much awaiting them. There’s still some quality-of-life work that needs to be done in terms of loading times and assist pop-ins, but as a fan of the previous SAO games, this entry simply blew me away. [FULL REVIEW HERE]

People have been waiting for years to finally get what could be considered a really good Sword Art Online game, but the fourth time is certainly not the charm for developer Aquria with probably the most disappointing attempt yet due to the overall squandered potential in Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris. [FULL REVIEW HERE]

 

[Shantae]

I was debating if I wanted to try getting into this series with this game. I only watched the first arc of the anime, so I have some familiarity with the source material, but not a lot.

I read somewhere that the Xbox One version was going to be Series X enhanced, and I'm not sure what that means. For that reason though, been wanting to find a copy for Xbox One, and no one has it locally. Only seen PS4 version at a few gamestops near me.

 

[Komatsu]

I was debating if I wanted to try getting into this series with this game. I only watched the first arc of the anime, so I have some familiarity with the source material, but not a lot.

I read somewhere that the Xbox One version was going to be Series X enhanced, and I'm not sure what that means. For that reason though, been wanting to find a copy for Xbox One, and no one has it locally. Only seen PS4 version at a few gamestops near me.

I bought it for the Xbox and it is easily the best looking game in the franchise - not a very high bar, I understand- and bizarrely it seems to run better than the PC version.

 

[Shantae]

I bought it for the Xbox and it is easily the best looking game in the franchise - not a very high bar, I understand- and bizarrely it seems to run better than the PC version.

Yeah, I was seeing the steam reviews, and there were a lot of unhappy people regarding performance on PC. Wasn't sure how that translated to the console versions. I don't play PC games really, so it didn't really matter to me if it only had problems on PC.

Wish I could find a copy locally on Xbox. I can get it on amazon, but I just hate ordering stuff online. I want to pay for something, and have it in my hands right away, not wait for it lol That's why I don't like preordering stuff months in advance and be expected to pay for up front too.

 

[Komatsu]

Wish I could find a copy locally on Xbox. I can get it on amazon, but I just hate ordering stuff online. I want to pay for something, and have it in my hands right away, not wait for it lol That's why I don't like preordering stuff months in advance and be expected to pay for up front too.

I couldn't find it locally either - I'm American, live in the Midwest - so I bit the bullet and bought it off the MS Store. GameStop and most other retailers really struggle to stock the few XB JRPGs that come along.

 

[Shantae]

I couldn't find it locally either - I'm American, live in the Midwest - so I bit the bullet and bought it off the MS Store. GameStop and most other retailers really struggle to stock the few XB JRPGs that come along.

Midwest here too, Wisconsin also known as the most forgettable state in the country, lol

 

[Yamisan]

Ps4 version is trash. 3+ minute load times at minimum. 20 fps in the world\battles and less than 10 fps in main towns. Worse SAO game so far. =\

 

[KàIRóS]

I've been playing the PC version since last thursday, I have a fairly powerful PC so it runs fine for the most part but the console versions definitely seem to be struggling with the framerate, I read that a patch is coming in the next weeks though.

I'm really enjoying it, especially the combat, it starts really slow with lots of tutorials but when the ball gets rolling on chapter 2 it truly starts to shine, I'm really liking the new AI system similar to the pawn system in Dragon's Dogma and the new time stop feature is a godsend to setup skill chains, all in all it's basically a better version of SAO: Hollow Realization, with some new mechanics here and there.

Exploration is also surprisingly good, they really came up with a nice open world design, it doesn't feel as barren as other open worlds, every few steps there's something to do, find or fight.

Graphics also suprised me, from the gameplays I saw, it didn't look like anything special but when I saw the first town in 4k on my PC I genuinely wowed at it, but the graphics are very likely the reason of all the framerate drops, they'll probably have to lower the geometry if they want solve the FPS issues, but for now the towns and character models look really detailed.

Soundtrack is amazing as always, actually does anybody know who composes the music for the SAO games? I'm a fan of the music in these games.

As for the Online, I unlocked it yesterday and I've been playing coop since then, the fact that you can play all story missions with friends now is a whole game changer for me, I'll probably be playing this game for a looong time for that alone.

I would really like to see Aquria (the devs of the SAO games) making their own IP outside of SAO, there's so much you can do with an anime licensed game and personally I find the story and characters of SAO very boring.

 

[Neolombax]

I'm playing it right now on my base PS4. I still have no idea why I chose to buy this over GoT, but damage is done. I've been wanting to play an SAO game since watching the anime. Gameplay wise I like it a lot. The combat certainly has some depth to it, combat skills even have some adjustments that can be done to further tweak your gameplay style. The combat is engaging, has a combo system and timing based.

Performance wise it could be better. I mean, it should be better. A patch is expected sometime soon to optimize it as devs are aware that this alone is dragging the review scores down for this game.

 

[sublimit]

This looks like a step up when compared to previous games graphics and i'd love to play it one day. But i have Hoĺow Fragment,Hollow Realization and Fatal Bullet all still waiting to be played. I'm also not a big fan of the anime,i have only watched the first season and didn't really liked it.

 

[Monjiro]

Really enjoying it so far. I just hope that they will add more costumes/armors

 

[Celcius]

I've seen all of the SAO anime but never played any of the games. Once I finish what I'm currently playing maybe I'll give this one a try.

 

[Komatsu]

This looks like a step up when compared to previous games graphics and i'd love to play it one day. But i have Hoĺow Fragment,Hollow Realization and Fatal Bullet all still waiting to be played. I'm also not a big fan of the anime,i have only watched the first season and didn't really liked it.

Not a fan of the PSP/Vita games - garbage RPGs riding on the super-popular IP.

That said, Fatal Bullet was a nice surprise. Really fun, anime-y 3rd person shooter.

This game's better though.

 

[Pantz]

Looks good but pretty rough performance on Xbox One X in 4K.

At least the Series X is around the corner, hope that will boost it. May or may not suspend playing until then.

 

[Shantae]

Looks good but pretty rough performance on Xbox One X in 4K.

At least the Series X is around the corner, hope that will boost it. May or may not suspend playing until then.

Even the One X is rough? I was wondering about that, because so many previews/reviews only cover ps4 or pc.

 

[Pantz]

Even the One X is rough? I was wondering about that, because so many previews/reviews only cover ps4 or pc.

Yeah. I'm not very good with framerate but it feels like 20fps. Definitely should not have gone with full 4K. Supposedly a patch is coming soon.