Sword Art Online (light novel)
| NOTE: I will only cover the first arc here, one of the reasons being that i personally think Fairy Dance lost one of the points that i defend about SAO. Am i the only who finds nonsensical when someone compares SAO to LogHorizon? Is like comparing Forza to Mario Kart: Is not because they're both racing games that they have the same objective or are "comparable" to eachother. While SAO goes the "Social Experience" way, LogHorizon focuses more on "MMORPG Science". One of the things that got me into SAO was this, things like the panic in episode one and Kirito running to be a solo player because he predicted what might happen after the panic stopped. While in LogHorizon the lack of this became "The elefant in the room" for me. As much as it may sound ironic for some, the lack of verisimilitude is some charachters actions drove me away from the show, but that's no important. TL;DR: Complaining about SAO because "That's not how RPG's systems work, LogHorizon did a whole better job at this" is like complaining about Street Fighter because "That's not how level creation systems work, Mario Maker did a whole better job at this" Also, talking a bit more about the "SAO(The game) wouldn't work as a game", i find this one pointless since, well... SAO (The game) wasn't created to be a game in the first place, if you missed it, you probably missed the entire point of the first arc. But expanding it a little bit more: First of all, we're talking about a vision of future gaming from 2002, and second of all, even like this, is not that bad. As much as people brag about the 10k copy limit and the "MMORPG which have an objetive ending" (Which, if you get the point that SAO (The Game) wasn't supposed to be a game, you probably wouldn't care): What's the problem? We are talking about a new technology, not an already stabilished market, SAO could as well just be a test (In which, by having it, it's creator company would have advantage in future games), even if it was supposed to be a game, even having an objetive end you would still have PvP, let alone that we know that charachter transportation between games became something common, so, really, it's company wouldn't be losing much. Anyway, this is the criticism i often see but can't see the point of. (Sorry for any grammar mistakes i might have commited, english isn't my main language.) |
| The "Social Experience" you speak of is only a pretense that allows for crappy harems and nonsensical storytelling. Kirito acts like an unrealistic asshole for the entirety of the show despite showing potential to be a decent (albeit generic) character in the first episode. People complain about the game mechanics because it negates any immersion in the setting. The premise was this show's biggest draw, but if that's terrible then what does this show have going for it? Kirito being a Gary Stu? Tentacle rape? This is why everybody hated the second arc. It was just as bad as the first, but it lost its cool premise. The 10K copies is a valid complaint. It's not only a new technology, but a revolutionary one. Creating an MMORPG such as WOW or Dota costs millions, and that's with already established technology. So imagine the cost of one run on the technology showcased in the show. It doesn't make any sense to limit the amount of copies to only 10,000. Also, they said in the first episode how highly anticipated the release of the game was. |
The "Social Experience" you speak of is only a pretense that allows for crappy harems and nonsensical storytelling. Kirito acts like an unrealistic asshole for the entirety of the show despite showing potential to be a decent (albeit generic) character in the first episode. I fail to understand the correlation here. The first arc didn't even have a harem, damn, harem became such a "buzzword"... the only valid complaints related to harem would be if you were criticizing stuff like Sinon flerting with Kirito in the excalibur arc, which was only fanservice . For the unrealistic acting, i never said it wasn't a valid criticism, so i don't kinda see the point in stating it, the reason d'etre of this thread is to point how two exact, pinpointed and explained usual complaints about the series don't make sense, not that "The series has no issues" People complain about the game mechanics because it negates any immersion in the setting. The premise was this show's biggest draw, but if that's terrible then what does this show have going for it? Kirito being a Gary Stu? Tentacle rape? This is why everybody hated the second arc. It was just as bad as the first, but it lost its cool premise. I'll have to disagree here. First of all, i think you're exaggerating, "negates any" is a heavy statement, it would be better saying "The lack of explanation is some aspects diminishes the quality of the the experience in certain parts (And pinpoint which were those parts, if possible)" Could you give me examples? I'm not doubting you, just failing to understand your point. And as i said, SAO's objective was never to be "MMORPG Science", not even it's premise promised that. "What the show had going for it", as i said, was the "social experience" stuff, i can explain it more if you wanted. "But the second arc didn't have that", yes, that's why i'm not defending the second arc, because i think it lost it's point. The 10K copies is a valid complaint. It's not only a new technology, but a revolutionary one. Creating an MMORPG such as WOW or Dota costs millions, and that's with already established technology. So imagine the cost of one run on the technology showcased in the show. It doesn't make any sense to limit the amount of copies to only 10,000. Also, they said in the first episode how highly anticipated the release of the game was. According to "Back to the future", everyone would be using brick-sized cellphones in 2015, therefore this is a valid complaint of why the movie is bad... not. You have to remember that the things it used as inspiration were probably Everquest and Ultima Online. The first Oculus Rift games were quite simplistic and had several limitations. And i don't really think creating DotA 1, the Warcraft Mod, costed millions. As i said, first of all it's creator didn't want it to be just a game in the first place, so it's like saying that someone's diary is a bad book. But let's suppose, just for a moment, that it was supposed to be a game: Who said they couldn't sell more copies later? |
| (I apologize if this comes off as rude) "The first arc didn't even have a harem, damn, harem became such a "buzzword"... the only valid complaints related to harem would be if you were criticizing stuff like Sinon flerting with Kirito in the excalibur arc, which was only fanservice ." Were we even watching the same show? The entirety of the female cast was there just to want Kirito. Heck, there were entire episodes dedicated to Kirito enlarging his harem (an example being episode 4). The one exception being Sinon; who had a character arc until she was turned into another harem member. But then again she was from the second series so it doesn't count. "For the unrealistic acting, i never said it wasn't a valid criticism, so i don't kinda see the point in stating it, the reason d'etre of this thread is to point how two exact, pinpointed and explained usual complaints about the series don't make sense, not that "The series has no issues"" My bringing up Kirito's unrealistic acting does have a correlation. You said SAO goes the "Social Experience" way, even bringing up Kirito's reaction during the first episode as an example. I stated that he was an "unrealistic asshole" after the first episode, which countered your "verisimilitude" claim. "First of all, i think you're exaggerating, "negates any" is a heavy statement, it would be better saying "The lack of explanation is some aspects diminishes the quality of the the experience in certain parts (And pinpoint which were those parts, if possible)" Could you give me examples? I'm not doubting you, just failing to understand your point." It's not necessarily a lack of explanation that made me say the game mechanics negated any immersion in the setting, but rather the fundamental flaws they already explained. An example would be Kirito having the highest level in the game despite being a solo player in a party-based game. This may be because I'm an MMORPG player and I'm aware of how the systems would/should work, but seeing stuff like that just breaks the immersion. "And as i said, SAO's objective was never to be "MMORPG Science", not even it's premise promised that. "What the show had going for it", as i said, was the "social experience" stuff" Yes, I do understand. The show can focus on the "social experience", but they are still interacting within the game's boundaries. All of their actions are limited because they're inside the MMORPG. An example being the slaughter of Kirito's first party. The tragedy can be seen as a social experience, but it only happened because of the game's bullshit system. The immersion is lost because the game is badly designed. "According to "Back to the future", everyone would be using brick-sized cellphones in 2015, therefore this is a valid complaint of why the movie is bad... not." The use of brick-sized cellphones in "Back to the Future" doesn't break the immersion because the narrative isn't focused on the use of brick-sized cellphones. In the case of SAO, the narrative is focused on the prospect of thousands being trapped inside an MMORPG. As stated before, it can be character-driven and the game can be only seen as a backdrop, but the characters are still interacting within the game's boundaries. "The first Oculus Rift games were quite simplistic and had several limitations. And i don't really think creating DotA 1, the Warcraft Mod, costed millions." The cost to make an MMORPG is typically around $30 million, and that's without DLC or other add-ons. SAO uses futuristic technology, so it's safe to assume the cost would be much higher. "As i said, first of all it's creator didn't want it to be just a game in the first place, so it's like saying that someone's diary is a bad book. But let's suppose, just for a moment, that it was supposed to be a game: Who said they couldn't sell more copies later?" Because that's not how business works. As I stated before, SAO was highly anticipated and sold out quickly. It's be like Rockstar selling only 10K copies of GTA5 on launch day. Comparing the criticism of the creator's negligence to the criticism of someone's diary is preposterous. |
AndyRodriguez said: I have a question @thewiru . Should I bother watching the 2nd Season? Some say "If you liked the 1st Season, you will like the 2nd one ever more" but, knowing that Asuna won't be on Season 2 at all makes me Not wanna watch it since I think its going to damage the Romance between Kirito & Asuna, and probably promote the (IMO) annoying Romantic relationship between siblings. It depends, i would have to split it up between the arcs of the second season: Gun Gale Online has very few things that ressemble the first season, i would personally have prefered if the story focused 100% in Sinon. I felt like it were slow-paced, but this may not be a problem if you are watching it all of once. It can be fun tho. Excalibur: Would you like some ALO fanservice (Not ecchi fanservice, just funservice)? If yes, then you may like this arc, it's really short, so i don't have much to talk about it, you can skip it if you want, though (Both Excalibur and Mother's Rosario were based in Spin-offs) Mother's Rosario: Again, let's say "It's not SAO", but you can still like it. Still, i would still value this arc because of the development of Asuna and the "legacy" SAO let on her, not to mention it will probably make you like more Kayaba Akihito as a villain and it gives a nice "prologue" at the end to the next arc. Summarizing: You may like them individually, but if you're looking for "more SAO", this probably isn't much. Still, being something different every arc is what made a friend of mine like this anime. As for the Harem part, dude, SAO's first arc is less Harem than KonoSuba (Which also isn't a harem), just because there's a lot of girls, doesn't mean it is a harem. He just sees Silica as a "Younger Sister" (Because she resembled his), Lizbeth likes him, but he doesn't, while with Asuna there's a whole relationship development. There's no Harem here, maybe i could agree with you if we were talking in stuff like Exalibur Arc, but here? Nope SAO has as much Harem as Rakudai (Which, again, doesn't have a harem) |
| Some criticism is valid though, one is where in ep3, the timeskip where kirito wants to continue as a solo player and basically tells everyone and Asuna "Fuck off" yet Kayaba panders to the casuals by making a forced relationship between the two with no development whatsoever onscreen. You really don't know the word Harem OP, if you really watched the show, all the girls he met were basically begging to hop on his god-tier plot dick. |
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| You can tell that the novelist of SAO never played a video game in his life. Why is it that much of a big deal, that Kirito was a beta tester? You would think after 2 years everyone knows how the game works, but people are still jealous of him, because he has slightly more experience than other players. According to this game's logic, it's impossible to get into any game after launch, because there are already people who play it longer than you... |
| I am kinda sad that it did...I had fond memories.... |
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| Surprised it's dropping, expected for a show full of plotholes. |
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| You shouldn't pay attention to random crap that people spout (Why the hell people would criticize and compare a fictional premise is beyond me. Wait, it's not; people are stupid, and I always tend to the average level of intelligence.); pay attention to actual criticisms like this: Little to no characterization ("OP" is not a character trait, and nor is waifu) "Shitting on all the bitches/monsters because OP" isn't a plot Dafuq weird elf shiet? Dafuq tentacle reyp? Dafuq deus ex machina excalibur bs? |
| Be thankful for the wisdom granted to you. |
| Well all criticism are not really pointless to a certain extent. You can always differentiate a baseless criticism(rant) from a devised one, proven by points of how the series can be weak/not appealing. |
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