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[Parakeetman]

This OT will also get updated once the Western release is launched on November 8th in North America and Europe. Main reason for this is due to the two releases being so close together and the general community of followers being small in comparison to other titles. So to save time of all those involved this will be a Double Duty OT.

Title: Sword Art Online Hollow Realization
Platform: PlayStation 4 / PlayStation Vita / Vita TV (Cross-Save Supported)
Release Date: 10-27-2016 (JPN) + Midnight release for DL reservations. / 11-08-2016 (North America / Europe)
Genre: Action RPG
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Developer: Aquaria
Player(s): 1 / [ONLINE: Supported] Player(s): Up to 4 Players Max.
CERO: B (12 and Up) / ESRB: Teen / PEGI: 12 and up
Localized Languages: EN / FR / ES / IT / DE

Price PlayStation 4 (JP):
Limited: 10,980 JPY (w/o tax)
PKG / DL: 7,200 JPY (w/o tax)

Price PlayStation Vita (JP):
Limited: 9,880 JPY (w/o tax)
PKG / DL: 6,100 JPY (w/o tax)

NA / EU Pricing PlayStation 4:
Limited: 149.95 USD
Package: 59.95 USD / 49.99 GBP / 69.99 EUR
Digital: 59.99 USD / 49.99 GBP / 69.99 EUR
Digital Deluxe: 84.99 USD / 69.99 GBP / 94.99 EUR

NA / EU Pricing PlayStation Vita:
Digital: 39.99 USD / 29.99 GBP / 39.99 EUR
Digital Deluxe: 64.99 USD / 44.99 GBP / 59.99 EUR

“Link start” into Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization, an exciting new action RPG developed under the watchful eye of Sword Art Online creator Reki Kawahara. Kirito receives a single mysterious message – a cryptic “I’m back to Aincrad” – and is drawn once again into a familiar world in which he was once trapped.

Kirito and his friends are pulled into a VRMMORPG called “Sword Art: Origin,” a game housed on the same servers that hosted the death-game “Sword Art Online.” However this game is not quite the same one he escaped years ago…
*Credits to Gematsu

• Revamped combat system which takes a more action rpg approach while keeping the skill palette feature from Hollow Fragment.
• Bring up to 3 NPC party members with you on your adventures.
• 9 different weapon types. 1 Hand Sword / Rapier / Scimitar / Dagger / Mace / Katana / 2 Hand Sword / 2 Hand Axe / Spear
  Supposedly the Dual Sword style is also in the game but not unlocked from the start.
• Class types which for AI which determine the general type of actions they will perform outside of their AI pattern.
  Tank / Attacker / Scout / Healer / Buffer
  
  These class types are required to be unlocked in specific weapon skill trees, before those class specific skills become available for use. This is a bit different from the system in Hollow Fragment, where everything was just broken down by weapon expertise progress rating. This game includes both weapon expertise progress rating and unlocking the class type to access the gated off skills.
• Large open world design for the world that is connected by zone borders and teleport points for ease of travel.
• Large field bosses called "Named Monsters" usually guard locked chests that contain valuable loot.
• Online multiplayer up to 4 players including 1 AI NPC partner for a total of 8 characters in a party (4 human / 4 AI) (Defeating the first raid boss is necessary to unlock MP mode)
• Premiere, Kismet and Genesis are the newly introduced characters in the Hollow Realization world.
• The Weapon Mastery / Skill Tree system from Hollow Fragment returns in this game and has been revamped.
• Cross-Save functionality between the PS4 and PS Vita versions.
• Planned free content update within 2016. This extra content will bring Seven and Rain two characters from Lost Song into the world of Hollow Realization.
• Planned paid DLC story content.
• Able to befriend human and AI characters alike and take them questing with you in the world.
• NPCs (marked with yellow icons) non player controlled AI characters can die permanently in the field if not resurrected before the death countdown reaches zero. This is for the game world created AI NPC characters in the story. Not the human player controlled characters who are marked with green icons.

Kirito / Asuna / Premiere / Lisbeth] / Silica / Leafa / Sinon / Strea / Philia / Agil / Klein / Genesis / Argo / Kizmel / Yuuki / Mysterious NPC

*Credits to Gematsu for the screenshots

Opening Movie
Opening Movie with theme song "Windia" By Haruna Luna (春奈るな）

PS4 Footage
PS4/PS Vita - Save the world (English Trailer)
PS4/PSVita - Who is Premiere? (English Story Trailer)
PS4/PS Vita - The age of Ainground (English Trailer)
Character Creation Footage (JP)
Named Monster Combat Footage (JP)
Giant Boss Combat Footage (JP)
One Hand Sword Demonstration (JP)
Two Hand Sword Demonstration (JP)
Two Hours of user recorded gameplay from the Japanese early access version
Raid Footage (Multiple parties vs Giant Boss) w/ JP Commentary
15 minutes of recorded gameplay of me running around the deserted castle zone
NM Battle in deserted castle zone - timestamped from 15m vid above (Higher Lv)
NM Battle #2 in deserted castle zone - timestamped from 15m vid above (Lower Lv)
JP Player Breaking the game with 2HS OSS (Original Sword Skill) Combo

PS4 Multiplayer Footage
JP PS4 coop footage w/ commentary
JP PS4 coop footage w/ commentary - Timestamped from actual start of boss fight
JP PS4 (solo) MP session with a full AI party

VITA Footage
Vita Gameplay "Potato / Handheld" Footage (JP)
VitaTV Gameplay Footage (JP)
Vita TV Gameplay Footage w/ English commentary.
Vita (Handheld recording) Gameplay Footage w/ English commentary.
Vita TV? "Potato" Footage (JP)
Vita TV - User recorded footage Playlist (JP)

Vita Multiplayer Footage
JP Vita coop footage w/ commentary
Same JP video as above. Time stamped to a section where the other players are actually alive

Free Major Update: “Fighters of the Blue Sky”

Due out in 2016, the “Fighters of the Blue Sky” update will include:

• Sword Art Online: Lost Song characters Rain and Seven
• The introduction of the new “PvP” feature
• Additional story of 20 hours volume (70 hours including side elements)

Paid Downloadable Content: “Shrine Maiden of the Abyss”

Due out in 2017, the “Shrine Maiden of the Abyss” downloadable content consists of three episodes:

• Chapter 1: “Seeker of the Phantom Mist”
• Chapter 2: “The Ill-Fated Tuner”
• Chapter 3: “A Person Who Goes Against God”

Each chapter costs 1,000 yen, A Season Pass including all three chapters and a bonus “Wedding Dress” costume for Asuna will be available for 2,500 yen.
*Credits to Gematsu

#-1:

Q: Is this once again the usual SAO "Waifu Laifu" setting with the characters?

A: Yes.

#0:

Q: Has there been any word on a localization announcement for this game yet?

A: News is that the North America and Europe version will release November 8th 2016.

#1:

Q: What type of game is this?

A: Action RPG in a Pseudo MMORPG setting. Game is also narrative heavy with the event scenes that help forward the story. All of the original JP voice cast is reprising their roles with the various characters from the series.

#2:

Q: Are the story scenes in the game full or partial voice?

A: The event story scenes are fully voiced. Though the in game dialog scenes there are some events so far which have not been voiced and are only text. But for the most part expect a good portion of the event scenes to be fully voiced.

#3:

Q: Is this game related to Infinity Moment / Hollow Fragment and Lost Song?

A: This game is related to all of the games. But mainly more so to Hollow Fragment due to the characters that appear, though there are some characters from Lost Song who appear in the story also and will be added in later with the free content update. Rain and Seven in particular. Other characters from Hollow Fragment return in this title also and the events with this game basically take place after that and Lost Song it seems in the overall timeline.

#4:

Q: Should I play Hollow Fragment / Lost Song before playing this game?

A: That is entirely up to you. Also I highly doubt they designed the game as that players must have played the other titles before. Though you will be at a disadvantage with knowing who some of the "new" characters introduced in those games are though when they show up in the story / conversations involving things that occurred in the past titles. So once again thats for you to decide. But if you are a general fan of SAO and just want to play the game Id say its fine to do so. As its quite the large time investment if you were to go through HF and LS. Also the fact that the play style of those 2 games are very different from eachother and HR.

#5:

Q: Can I edit my character? Gender? Am I still refered to as Kirito in the story?

A: Yes simple character edit is back with being able to change hair, eye, mouth, height, voice and gender. Including skin / eye / hair color. Although the story itself you will be playing as Kirito so in the event scenes you voiced lines will still refer to you as Kirito same with the voice played of your character. Though I think you can have your name changed so that in text it will display something separate from Kirito if you want.
Character Creation Footage
*Credits to Gematsu

#6:

Q: How long is this game?

A: The following is an answer from the games producer Yosuke Futami in regards to play time.

“If you just play through the main game, it’s about 30 to 40 hours. Of course, including replayability elements like leveling up to the maximum level, doing all the quests and such, then it’s going to be about 70 to 100 hours of gameplay.”
*Credits to Gematsu

#7:

Q: How difficult is this game?

A: If you fight enemies within your own general level range it is not too difficult and the basic commands / mechanics are fairly easy to learn. If you are familiar with MMORPGs you should get a grasp of the other mechanics the game has to offer with the large selection of skills that can be unlocked for use and have various applications during combat.

#8:

Q: Do I need to know Japanese to play this game?

A: Since this game is narrative heavy to fully enjoy it having some sort of understanding of Japanese would be helpful. On top of being able to read all the various skills for your character since leveling is done via assignment of Skill Points. So you do not exactly want to waste those as am unsure if the game will offer a respec option.

Also with the Western release being so close there is pretty much no reason to import the JP copy if you would like to play the game in English and fully enjoy the title.

#9:

Q: Are there any official review scores out?

A: Following scores are from Famitsu.
Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization (PS4) – 9/8/7/8 [32/40]
Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization (PS Vita) – 9/8/7/8 [32/40]
*Credits to Gematsu

Western Reviews
Pissed Off Geek - 9 / 10
Hardcore Gamer - 8 / 10
Hey Poor Player - 8 / 10
Cog Connected - 7.3 / 10
PlayStation LifeStyle - 7 / 10
GameSpew - 7 / 10
Push Square - 7 / 10
The Sixth Axis - 7 / 10
Twinfinite - 7 / 10
Brash Games - 7 / 10
IGN - 6.7 / 10
My Games Lounge - 6.7 / 10
High-Def Digest - 6 / 10
Pocket Gamer UK - 5 / 10

#10:

Q: Is there a list for the trophies?

A: English Trophy List / Also contains the hidden trophies which need to be toggled to view.

Thanks to Bandai Namco for the resources used within this OT
Thanks to Gematsu for information used within this OT
Thanks to Deviant Art user - darkblackswords for having made the font used in the OT.

 

[Parakeetman]

Game will unlock tonight at midnight for those who preordered the digital download version.

Those who did preorder the DD version were able to access the first part of the game and get a head start on their play data a week earlier than release.

Some earlier impressions from the "Early Access" version of the game can be found by clicking on this text.

Overall the game is not bad. Though it is quite different from Hollow Fragment as this has become more of an Action RPG vs. Pseudo SP MMORPG experience. While there are some similarities with design mechanics such as the skill system, weapon mastery and skill palette. How combat goes is a bit different. The positive is those who did not like the auto attacking and how the game was more like a MMO should be happier with this title as you control your attacks directly just like any other action RPG with the main attack button. You are also able to customize which skills are set to what "hotkeys" through the skill menu.

Although people will most def be getting irritated with how stupid the AI is in general as this game the AI most def is stupid in combat. It does not really pay attention to the AOEs and whatnots. Granted they might try to dodge sometimes, a lot of the time they wind up getting hit or just standing there doing nothing inside of an AOE zone. The command to tell them to evade does not always work as planned either due to the fact that sometimes the AI does not listen to the command due to being in the middle of another action. Which pretty much defeats the whole purpose of the actual command honestly. The only good thing about the AI is the fact that it does revive the player if they get KOed. The other problem with the evade command is that it will stop your character also when you perform it, which means you cant perform the action while on the move at the same time.

With the AI being stupid aside, it is nice having multiple party members at once since feels more like a proper pseudo mmo party experience thanks to that. Though does make the "Praise" system more of a pain in the ass as you have to individually praise each character which is good / bad. Good since you can pick who you want to praise, but bad since you have to wait for the cool down each time. The other good thing is that the status display is fairly easy to read that shows what traits they will generally perform while in combat. When things go well you can dish out a lot of damage thanks to the extra party members.

You can tell that this game most def got hamstrung by being stuck with the Vita though. But considering that Bandai Namco their MO these days is to produce cross platform save compat titles with the console and Vita its expected. Though would have been nice if a bit more effort was put into the titles as there are some rather obvious issues with character models and their equipment. With either the armor set looking cheap as fuck such as one of the middle tier armors you can buy with the neck area being a solid polygon rather than properly modeled which makes clipping apparent with the characters head / neck and other issues with characters hair not jiving well with the outfit. Its almost as if the dev team the character vs equipment teams didnt work together or something.

Also the overall look of the models have a weird plastic sheen to them with their equipment.

The general lack of interesting facial piece choices was a bit disappointing too. As Hollow Fragment had a few interesting ones. This title they are quite bland.

The postive about the character models is thankfully the story related ones look good. But in terms of character customization and general look of how the model + armor sets jive depending on what weapon equip is a bit shite. More effort could have gone into improving that, since its rather blatant.

Combat and Skill usage is ok and its understandable how things like the skill usage was toned down to match the action based gameplay, though really feels to be less engaging due to that. Though it is nice that they kept the larger skill palette by pressing the touch pad where you can activate other skills and whatnots. Though they should have kept the R1 / L1 + buttons hotkeys. As its a bit of a disappointment that this title does not seem to use that.

While this game does not use the L1 + Buttons / R1 + Buttons for bringing up other sub menus, you can set commands to button + analog stick input to trigger different skills. For example Circle + Forward on the Left Analog Stick. While this is an interesting feature at the same time it leaves too much room for potential error due to the nature of analog stick motion. Though if you get used to it its fairly easy to use, but honestly the L1 + Buttons / R1 + Buttons system used in Hollow Fragment was far more efficient as you did not have to fiddle with anything more than pressing the shoulder button then one of the face buttons.

The first person camera mode is mostly useless due to the devs not having any sort of proper setting to speed up the turning left or right with looking around making it horribly slow when turning. So if anything its more a novelty.

The story sequences that forward the story are pretty well done with crisp 2d graphics used on the PS4. Looks really good and as usual the writing is what one would expect from SAO. So those who enjoy that should have a good time as usual its well done in the SAO sense.

Gameplay though with the issues Ive mentioned aside the game still should be an enjoyable experience. Am looking forward to filling out my skills a lot more as most def need more buffs / debuffs and other whatnots. Am curious if this game will allow you to obtain all the skills if you take the time to fully level up all the weapons or if it will be like HF and even after doing that you will not have enough points for everything so choices will have to be made. As most def what will make or break this for myself honestly is how deep will the skill system go.

Though its a bit of a shame that with how the game is designed its more you have to cheese the higher level (NMs) enemies rather than using skill like with HF. Already cheesed the giant boar by constantly using other player NPCs to distract it which somehow has a chance to mess with the AI so it will keep targeting them and totally ignore the player allowing for free hits on it as it attempts to move towards the targeted NPC party. The only thing is you really do not seem to get much out of doing that, so there is no real purpose to bothering, unless you are trying to constantly loot the chest they are guarding for the randomized quality item inside. Since the "sell" value of the items are quite low outside of trying to get higher quality versions there is not much of a point with collecting a bunch of these. Though Id imagine later on you can gift doubles to your NPC companions once their friend rating is high enough. As some of the equipment found in these locked chests are a bit better than ones you can buy at the store at the start.

You can "solo" these NMs but for the most part it just requires a lot of hit and away since the monsters are quite liberal with the AOEs and such now. The parry system is also not as forgiving as it was in Hollow Fragment so its a bit more severe in the timing of when the parry is actually active vs an enemy's attack. Since if you go by the assumption of the parry graphic being active = parry success will end in you getting hit. So its a lot of trial and error experimentation with animation frames till you figure out what the exact timing is with some attacks. Just like HF this game parry will not protect you against everything either. So if you are in a serious battle it is far better to just dodge rather than try to parry attacks with a new monster.

 

[Shizuka]

Does anyone know where I can find Vita footage of the game?

 

[Hikami]

I'm pretty fatigued with the series already so I think I'll be skipping this one for a while.
Will be following the thread though, still interested to read some impressions.

Also lol, nice OT title.

 

[Hasemo]

Does anyone know where I can find Vita footage of the game?

There's a ton of it on Youtube if you look for "Hollow Realization" and "Vita". Havian has 2 Vita gameplay videos - 1, 2.

Great OT as usual, I guess we can continue our discussion from the other thread here.
If possible, could you link the Early Access thread so people can read up impressions from the first 10 hours of the game?

 

[perorist]

Great OT. Played an hour or two of the beater version but gonna wait till the weekend to jump into the full version. Trying to decide if I want to reroll with a female avatar since the game actually lets you disable Kirito's male VA during the ADV scenes.

Also, I feel like the production value of the entire PS4 version would be boosted by like 20% if the character models weren't so clearly vita assets. These faces are terrible.

 

[Abdiel]

Dammit Parakeet...

Not getting anymore Log Horizon hurts, man.

On Topic - I'm really excited for this game, two weeks out!

 

[Shizuka]

There's a ton of it on Youtube if you look for "Hollow Realization" and "Vita". Havian has 2 Vita gameplay videos - 1, 2.

Thank you!

 

[bobawesome]

I've been strangely hyped for this game, despite not really liking the franchise outside of HF.

 

[Tohsaka]

Nice OT, looking forward to this since I really liked Hollow Fragment. It's cool that the western release is so close to the Japanese one this time.

 

[Parakeetman]

Ok good it is Vita TV compat also it seems.

 

[Parakeetman]

Goddamn it PC. Double post.

I'm pretty fatigued with the series already so I think I'll be skipping this one for a while.
Will be following the thread though, still interested to read some impressions.

Also lol, nice OT title.

Thanks, couldnt think of anything better to use this time around. Plus was watching Log Horizon again lately lol

There's a ton of it on Youtube if you look for "Hollow Realization" and "Vita". Havian has 2 Vita gameplay videos - 1, 2.

Great OT as usual, I guess we can continue our discussion from the other thread here.
If possible, could you link the Early Access thread so people can read up impressions from the first 10 hours of the game?

Thanks. Went and added the early access thread link to the 2nd post. Made the whole sentence a link so its easily visible.

For some reason those havian vids dont play correctly on this side not sure why. Will add those to the media section regardless.

Dammit Parakeet...

Not getting anymore Log Horizon hurts, man.

On Topic - I'm really excited for this game, two weeks out!

Yep no Season 3 for anyone...

----

One thing for sure with this game is that most def it will be a lot better in Multiplayer. Since at least you wont have to worry about the AI partners constantly dying during NM fights due to standing around in AOEs... At least you can help lessen the speed at which they die with the various buffs and whatnots when you unlock them in the skill tree.

 

[Hasemo]

Thanks. Went and added the early access thread link to the 2nd post. Made the whole sentence a link so its easily visible.

Thanks!

Great OT. Played an hour or two of the beater version but gonna wait till the weekend to jump into the full version. Trying to decide if I want to reroll with a female avatar since the game actually lets you disable Kirito's male VA during the ADV scenes.

Also, I feel like the production value of the entire PS4 version would be boosted by like 20% if the character models weren't so clearly vita assets. These faces are terrible.

If by "reroll" you mean that you want to start from the beginning, don't! You can change your looks/name etc. at any point once you get access to the Inn Room, pretty early in the game.

Also, some "hot tips" from the other thread (plus new ones!) for those starting soon/now:
- Get the Healing Circle as your 1st skill. You can do it right away. It's an AoE heal and since their is no passive HP regen when out of combat, you will be using it a lot.
- Get the 150 SP recovery skill as the 2nd skill. This can also be done right away. It's been the 2nd most useful skill so far.
- Defeat the lv 13/14 Boar NM guarding the chest in the first area as soon as you can. I believe he's the easiest "high level" NM you can fight and the chest has a purple Sword much stronger than anything you'll be able to get from a store for a long while.
- You can die as much as you want - you don't lose xp/money, and the equipment doesn't break. You just get sent back to town.
- This time you raise mastery not only per weapon type, but also per Extra Skill (Attacker, Buffer, Tank etc.)
- Item drop quests are the main way of making money, since regular items/equipment don't sell for much. Those quests repop from time to time, so be sure to check the quest board every time you're in the town.
- Blacksmiths other than the one in the town are located in small camps across the field, which are marked by the flame icon on the map. Each of them has their own level and different skills, so it might be a good idea to check them out if you're near.

 

[Parakeetman]

As usual with this game, one can expect that potentially not all skills will be able to be unlocked even with all of the weapons maxed out. Even more so since it seems that skill point cost is a bit higher than Hollow Fragment? Though the number of skills looks like it may be less. Though am not exactly sure on that.

In anycase, its a good idea to look through what the various skill trees have to offer and work on upping your weapon skill with that particular tree as there are weapon expertise requirements before certain skills can be unlocked.

So in other words a bit of reading is necessary with looking through the trees and seeing what you might want to obtain.

While this is a SS from the JP ver basically the skill tree will look like this for example.

Those who have played Hollow Fragment should be familiar with this as its pretty close to how things were in HF.

 

[Hasemo]

As usual with this game, one can expect that potentially not all skills will be able to be unlocked even with all of the weapons maxed out. Even more so since it seems that skill point cost is a bit higher than Hollow Fragment? Though the number of skills looks like it may be less. Though am not exactly sure on that.

In anycase, its a good idea to look through what the various skill trees have to offer and work on upping your weapon skill with that particular tree as there are weapon expertise requirements before certain skills can be unlocked.

So in other words a bit of reading is necessary with looking through the trees and seeing what you might want to obtain.

While this is a SS from the JP ver basically the skill tree will look like this for example.

That's one thing I wanted to ask about - did HF had a way to reset your skill points are any point or if you went for a bad build you were basically screwed?

 

[Parakeetman]

That's one thing I wanted to ask about - did HF had a way to reset your skill points are any point or if you went for a bad build you were basically screwed?

I dont recall there being anything to actually reset your skill points. Am not sure if the large content update changed that. Since they did change a bunch of gameplay mechanics from how the title originally was. Then even more so I think? with the PS4 version.

Its why I remember being so careful with what I selected as had read from JP users that you cant obtain all the skills even if you wanted to. Though the content update helped add more skill points I think? or something like that.

Also if anyone knows the pricing of the NA Vita version or the Europe prices Vita limited edition etc let me know and will add that info it. Or basically anything thats missing from the North America / Europe Pricing in the Product Info section.

 

[perorist]

Thanks!

If by "reroll" you mean that you want to start from the beginning, don't! You can change your looks/name etc. at any point once you get access to the Inn Room, pretty early in the game.

Also, some "hot tips" from the other thread (plus new ones!) for those starting soon/now:
- Get the Healing Circle as your 1st skill. You can do it right away. It's an AoE heal and since their is no passive HP regen when out of combat, you will be using it a lot.
- Get the 150 SP recovery skill as the 2nd skill. This can also be done right away. It's been the 2nd most useful skill so far.
- Defeat the lv 13/14 Boar NM guarding the chest in the first area as soon as you can. I believe he's the easiest "high level" NM you can fight and the chest has a purple Sword much stronger than anything you'll be able to get from a store for a long while.
- You can die as much as you want - you don't lose xp/money, and the equipment doesn't break. You just get sent back to town.
- This time you raise mastery not only per weapon type, but also per Extra Skill (Attacker, Buffer, Tank etc.)
- Item drop quests are the main way of making money, since regular items/equipment don't sell for much. Those quests repop from time to time, so be sure to check the quest board every time you're in the town.
- Blacksmiths other than the one in the town are located in small camps across the field, which are marked by the flame icon on the map. Each of them has their own level and different skills, so it might be a good idea to check them out if you're near.

Good tips, I'll take them into account. I skipped lost song but I remember using a build guide for hollow fragment to make sure I got the most mileage out of my skill selection. Hopefully some crazy marathoning players come up with solid full build/skill recs by the weekend.

 

[Parakeetman]

Good tips, I'll take them into account. I skipped lost song but I remember using a build guide for hollow fragment to make sure I got the most mileage out of my skill selection. Hopefully some crazy marathoning players come up with solid full build/skill recs by the weekend.

Ill have to poke around to see what the useful JP wikis will be and link it in the OT later.

If you are going NM hunting for gear, best thing you can do is just keep exiting the zone and re-entering to get it to respawn. As each time you leave it respawns the NMs including the chest. Reason for that is due to the item quality displayed by the # of stars is randomized when you open the NM guarded chests.

Saves you $$$ and resources as you dont need to upgrade it yourself.

For the most part you most def will want to focus on defense at the start / keeping yourself alive. As usual negative status effects are pretty bad early on such as poison or bleeding so being able to either treat those yourself or have some sort of HP regen to overpower the damage effect will be a huge plus due to the cooldown on potions. Plus early on they did not seem to sell status ailment recovery items. But there are skills which help remove these effects in the Healer tree. Forgot which weapon it was locked away in though.

Also just like HF this game to raise your friendship with the other NPCs you basically need to talk to them over and over. If this has some of the same systems as hollow fragment does then eventually some should issue you quests and such also which helps raise it when completed. Am not sure on if helping random NPCs in the field in either combat or rezzing them helps raise friendship also. Will have to take a look at that later.

---

Best thing about this game is Argo is usable right from the start. Though its too bad that they went back to the standard weapon types and did not leave in the claw weapon type category.

*Credits to DualShockers for screenshots

 

[Splinter]

Hmm I just started watching the show on Netflix. Accidentally started with Season 2. Looks interesting, I might check it out after I finish Witcher 3 and FFXV. I'm starting to get back into Anime/JRPGs and this once looks interesting.

Are there any vids that display the open world map? Large and lush maps are my main draw to games nowadays, and anything that adds to immersion. Anyone have any impressions regarding the map, immersion, side quests, loot, etc?

 

[Parakeetman]

Hmm I just started watching the show on Netflix. Accidentally started with Season 2. Looks interesting, I might check it out after I finish Witcher 3 and FFXV. I'm starting to get back into Anime/JRPGs and this once looks interesting.

Are there any vids that display the open world map? Large and lush maps are my main draw to games nowadays, and anything that adds to immersion. Anyone have any impressions regarding the map, immersion, side quests, loot, etc?

Watch the videos in the media section. But dont expect something like the Witcher 3 / FFXV for example lol. As this game is still being held back by Vita hardware limitations also.

Most side quests come from the quest board in town. Which varies from collect X resource, Kill X enemy etc. Other quests come from NPCs or other players in the game who might send you messages to the pseudo in game messaging system. In regards to the actual combat areas, there are some field quests that begin when specific conditions are met or if you reach a target area of the map. Upon completion of those there is a chance that you will be rewarded with a treasure chest.

In the combat areas there are very strong enemies called Named Monsters, these usually are protecting a locked chest that can only be opened once said Named Monster is defeated. The chests will usually contain some sort of equipment that varies in quality level as loot. These Named Monsters will respawn once you leave / re-enter a zone.

If the game design is similar to Hollow Fragment, you should also get loot from the boss battles. Though am not sure if they are still doing the system of loot is only rewarded to whoever gets the last hit or not.

But for the most part you will be getting equipment from the treasure chests.

Other treasure chests in the zone are one time open sort of deals. Where once its opened thats it for said chest. The locked ones can be opened again and again as long as you leave and re-enter the particular zone. Did not look to see if it works with zoning in and out of an area. But going back to town will 100% respawn enemies and locked chests.

 

[Splinter]

^Thanks!

 

[Hasemo]

Other quests come from NPCs or other players in the game who might send you messages to the pseudo in game messaging system.

Have you tried doing any of these quests? Like I mentioned before, I have a ton of messages from NPCs telling me they want to meet me, but have been too busy with the story to bother. I'm curious if it's worth your time.

If the game design is similar to Hollow Fragment, you should also get loot from the boss battles. Though am not sure if they are still doing the system of loot is only rewarded to whoever gets the last hit or not.

I got 2 items from the boss, both shown on the screenshot below. The necklace was the "last hit bonus", but the armor was just a regular reward.

Regarding the "mysterious NPC" (Premia) in the game, there's a cool feature on the official site, for which you need to have a smartphone and know Japanese.
On this page, you can talk to Premia, teach her new words etc. Basically play with an AI, but I have no idea how advanced it is, since I played with it only for a few minutes. Doesn't work on regular browsers (unless you set up a smartphone user agent).

By the way - does anyone know how to give other NPCs items? I tried talking to them, checking their status menu with Triangle and looked in the Friends menu, but couldn't find an option for that.

 

[Parakeetman]

I got 2 items from the boss, both shown on the screenshot below. The necklace was the "last hit bonus", but the armor was just a regular reward.


Regarding the "mysterious NPC" (Premia) in the game, there's a cool feature on the official site, for which you need to have a smartphone and know Japanese.
On this page, you can talk to Premia, teach her new words etc. Basically play with an AI, but I have no idea how advanced it is, since I played with it only for a few minutes. Doesn't work on regular browsers (unless you set up a smartphone user agent).

By the way - does anyone know how to give other NPCs items? I tried talking to them, checking their status menu with Triangle and looked in the Friends menu, but couldn't find an option for that.

If its anything like hollow fragment you should be able to give them shit once your friendship level is at a certain point. Unless they gated it off through story progression it still should be the same?

Other possibility is that the feature is disabled for the early access version.

Or you can only gift them stuff when you ask them to wander around the town with you. Never tried that yet.

 

[Cornbread78]

Dammit Parakeet...

Not getting anymore Log Horizon hurts, man.

On Topic - I'm really excited for this game, two weeks out!

And I thought there would only be a few that got the title reference, lol.

Good deal!


And good job on the OT. Packed with info and looks good.

 

[Ravage]

How's the stats system in this game? Is it similar to Hollow Fragment?

 

[Parakeetman]

And I thought there would only be a few that got the title reference, lol.

Good deal!

And good job on the OT. Packed with info and looks good.

Thanks yeah managed to get most of it together and fixed all the small problems it had I think? lol

As usual though still no blood idea about the Vita pricing... :/ So guess thats going to have to wait till the Western version gets launched. A friend of mine said he doesnt think that there were pre-orders for the Vita digital ver which is why it was not up on the store unlike the PS4 versions. Kinda odd about that. But explains why its not up yet. Still wouldnt hurt if Bandai Namco just went and put the price out there wtf.

How's the stats system in this game? Is it similar to Hollow Fragment?

For the most part it does seem to be similar with the stats and such. So things like equipment will change stats along with skills use stats numbers for the multipliers and such. A lot of that is similar to Hollow Fragment as this was developed by the same dev team. Unlike Lost Song that was a totally different studio.

---

Digital Download reservations unlock in about 6 more hours.

For those curious about the game, watch the videos in the media section as the screenshots for the most part are not the most exciting things to look at.

 

[Yu Narukami]

Are story quests interesting with cool bosses?

 

[Rymuth]

Kinda interested in this entry because the Raids look cool - will keep up with this OT to read up on any impressions on that front.

 

[Parakeetman]

Are story quests interesting with cool bosses?

Guess we will find out in 6 hours when the full game unlocks in under 6 hrs. Though in general the monster design is pretty great. So can expect to see some pretty cool stuff later on also.

Kinda interested in this entry because the Raids look cool - will keep up with this OT to read up on any impressions on that front.

Which reminds me I need to look for if there was any footage of that.

Btw found raid footage for you though it has JP commentary on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qeMYwUh0P8

------

To others who plan on getting the import version of either the PS4 or Vita be sure to update your games once you load it up. There are currently 2 patches taking the game up to 1.02.

 

[Yu Narukami]

Never played an SAO game. If impressions are good I'll buy it because it looks like FFXIV. I just hope that there are dungeons and not only boring field running.

 

[Jintor]

where's my log horizon video game

 

[Baalzebup]

And here I am, having not even finished HF, let alone started Lost Song. My gaming interests are a bit too wide to keep up with even half of what I'd like to play.

 

[Parakeetman]

where's my log horizon video game

Considering the creator of the series got slammed with tax evasion that he was found guilty of. Doubt anyone will really want to touch the main brand now...

Since that was the reason why we never got a 3rd season of the anime lol

And here I am, having not even finished HF, let alone started Lost Song. My gaming interests are a bit too wide to keep up with even half of what I'd like to play.

Skip Lost Song, play this instead on the 8th lol

 

[Rymuth]

Considering the creator of the series got slammed with tax evasion that he was found guilty of. Doubt anyone will really want to touch the main brand now...

O_O Holy crap...

 

[AALLx]

Just want to say that Database is the best-worst song ever. It's just so horribly good and terrifically bad at the same time.

 

[Parakeetman]

O_O Holy crap...

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...are-touno-found-guilty-of-tax-evasion/.101506

Thankfully the spinoff stuff still seems to be alive as the latest. Nishikaze no Ryodan (West Wind Brigade) manga came out and I think there will be an OVA for that also. But the mainline stuff seems dead and explains why the mainline related mangas stopped while the Nishikaze spinoff and other spinoff titles seem to be continuing.

Just want to say that Database is the best-worst song ever. It's just so horribly good and terrifically bad at the same time.

 

[Hasemo]

For some reason I can't preload the game, using the store on the browser and mobile - clicking the "download to ps4" button does nothing. On the PS4 I can't even find that button anywhere. So weird, the store page specifically says the game has preload.

Edit:
Never mind, changing some noscript settings helped. The first time this happened to me though. Doesn't explain why it didn't work on mobile and ps4, but oh well.

 

[Parakeetman]

For some reason I can't preload the game, using the store on the browser and mobile - clicking the "download to ps4" button does nothing. On the PS4 I can't even find that button anywhere. So weird, the store page specifically says the game has preload.

Edit:
Never mind, changing some noscript settings helped. The first time this happened to me though. Doesn't explain why it didn't work on mobile and ps4, but oh well.

Thats odd. Since mine seemed to preload no issue? At least I think it did when I had checked the system storage whatnots. Though I did have to manually initiate the 300 MB? patch download. Wait nevermind the 300 MB I think was the system update? lol

This was after updating my system software though.

I had gone to make sure since I usually have my PS4 auto DL / auto update features set to off so was worried mine didnt preload. Reason for those being shut of is that bad firmware a long while back is literally what killed my OG PS4 due to frying the power system. It was whatever firmware number the one that was causing all the random freezes and other issues with standby mode / power related issues. At least it makes a great doorstop now.

 

[Hasemo]

Thats odd. Since mine seemed to preload no issue? At least I think it did when I had checked the system storage whatnots. Though I did have to manually initiate the 300 MB? patch download.

This was after updating my system software though.

Store has been wonky for the last 3 hours, maybe that's the reason. Oh well, already halfway there already, so no biggie.

 

[Parakeetman]

From time of this post about 3hr 40m till DL preloads can be launched.

 

[Hasemo]

3,5 hours to get 2.2 levels. I can do it!

 

[SliceSabre]

Subbed.

I should try to finish Lost Song before this comes out.

 

[Ravage]

For the most part it does seem to be similar with the stats and such. So things like equipment will change stats along with skills use stats numbers for the multipliers and such. A lot of that is similar to Hollow Fragment as this was developed by the same dev team. Unlike Lost Song that was a totally different studio.

Nice, i really like how it works in HF. Hoping for similar build variety, that's my favourite part.

 

[Ryuukan]

this has the awful praise system thats in HF? that's a downer

 

[Kresnik258]

First SAO game I'm skipping at launch. Aside from the fact I enjoyed Lost Song more than Hollow Fragment (yes really), the bad feedback I'm hearing about the Vita version is putting me off.

Doesn't help that Novemer is a really expensive month.

Maybe down the line!

 

[maouvin]

Never finished HF (on Vita) because the combat system was, well, a bit boring, but the combat here looks more active and interesting. Might grab it down the road, PS4 backlog needs some work before getting a new time sink~

Hopefully grinding weapon mastery isn't a chore as in HF. I mean, it's grind, but relying on autoattack to grind wasn't fun

 

[Parakeetman]

Never finished HF (on Vita) because the combat system was, well, a bit boring, but the combat here looks more active and interesting. Might grab it down the road, PS4 backlog needs some work before getting a new time sink~

Hopefully grinding weapon mastery isn't a chore as in HF. I mean, it's grind, but relying on autoattack to grind wasn't fun

It wasnt as bad if you took advantage of fighting stronger enemies and using buffs that increased your attack speed.

But this game its the same thing with grinding weapon mastery though the only difference is you press Circle all the time lol.

Considering waiting works more to your advantage since the free content update and dlc stuff might be out by then.

 

[GARlockSpiral]

So how are these games?

I have Hollow Fragment on the Vita but haven't started it yet. I'm a fan of .hack//, but despise the anime series. As a game, how is it?

 

[Parakeetman]

So how are these games?

I have Hollow Fragment on the Vita but haven't started it yet. I'm a fan of .hack//, but despise the anime series. As a game, how is it?

Hollow Fragment is basically the closest thing you will get to a pseudo offline MMORPG in terms of how combat functions.

While there is a lot to wrap your head around, once you do or if you are familiar with concepts behind MMO combat you should be able to get settled in pretty well.

Fights against Named Monsters (strong enemies) in particular captures this feeling very well and the game allows for skilled players to take down targets way higher than their own level if you make use of all the skills you have unlocked.

Story wise if you are familiar with Sword Art Online, its pretty much what you can expect with the usual "harem" type of setting. But gameplay is quite well done and deep.

One thing though is half of the game the designs were from the original PSP game called Infinity Moment, which is why the "Aincrad" related content seems so simple in comparison to the Vita content which is the Hollow Fragment part of the game that takes place in the Hollow Area.

The Aincrad content was designed with PSP specs while the Hollow Fragment content was made using Vita specs.

 

[Azure Phoenix]

Oh boy.... last attack bonuses are back according to the trophies. I really hated having to keep replaying 20+ mins boss fights purely because the AI decided to slightly tap the boss while I'm in a long skill cooldown.

Going by the hidden trophies as well it seems that

Spoiler

----Sachi----

isn't in the game, which is a shame.