Sword Art Online Re Hollow Fragment Change Burst Attack

Find out what happens later the 75th floor

Despite how y'all may feel virtually the polarizing second arc of Sword Art Online, fans mostly have nada but good things to say nigh the first arc. It managed to blast a lot of aspects of MMO civilization, along with marrying the aspect of a virtual game of death into an interesting narrative full of mostly likable characters.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment manages to re-tell the end of the arc in videogame form, and even though it isn't the best RPG on the Vita, it's pretty much a must-have for hardcore fans of the series who always wondered what lurked beyond the 75th floor of SAO.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment (Vita)
Developer: Bandai Namco Games
Publisher: Bandai Namco Games
Release: April 23, 2014 (Japan) / August 19, 2014 (NA)
MSRP: $39.99

So what is Hollow Fragment? Well, in Nippon, there wasSword Fine art Online: Infinity Moment on PSP. Hollow Fragment is basically a semi-sequel that brings the upgrades the original visuals and adds more than content, such as a new storyline and zone called "The Hollow Area". In other words, you're going to be up to speed if this is your first SAO game.

Hollow Fragment's story takes identify in the showtime one-half the Sword Art Online anime's plot, just changes the narrative drastically from a key point. In the serial, the initial story ends at the 75th level of "Aincrad", the 100-floor chief dungeon, after the players defeat the "Skull Reaper" dominate, solve the "mystery" of SAO, and motility on to a new arc. In Hollow Fragment, players must continue all the way to the 100th floor to truly find out what happened.

If you aren't a fan of the prove, the game does a decent job of communicable you lot up to what's happening in the world: Players are locked into a virtual reality MMO, with their bodies essentially comatose in real life until they "trounce" the game. But you really need to purchase into the characters to bask yourself. Quite simply, the story immediately takes a backseat in favor of grinding and combat as you work your way towards clearing the game, and individual interactions are paramount.

There's going to be fanservice, tropes, and cutesy conversations just like the evidence. In brusque, you lot aren't going to like everyone, and since the game packs in 100 companions (as well as characters never seen before on the first two arcs of the testify like Sinon), you take a lot to sift through. Having said that, the Japanese voices are cracking, I mostly like the characters at hand, and the paw-drawn models during conversations await direct out of the anime — on the Vita'south OLED, it looks incredibly crisp. If you find yourself loathing a certain conversation though you can use the handy fast-forrard button (50).

On your journeying from floors 76-100, you'll take access to 1 town — Arc Sofia. I similar the "ane metropolis" concept in theory, but the hub itself isn't all that vibrant visually, or lively in terms of gameplay. Since the game is technically offline, you'll have to find NPCs by style of your "friends listing," and track them down. You too accept the pick to enter the "Hollow" anytime you want, and complete a separate storyline with newcomerPhilia — which definitely breaks up the monotony of Arc Sofia since the Hollow is more of an open world compared to Aincrad'due south floor-by-floor structured arroyo.

You have the option of just playing as the main character of the anime (Kirito), or irresolute your avatar's name and physical appearance using a express grapheme creation screen. To exist clear though, y'all'll still be taking the identify of Kirito's character as he was in that part of the show — level 100 and all, so you'll have to do a bit of digging into his skillset to play grab-up.

The game'due south combat is what I'd call "sufficient, just fun." It'south mostly a slasher, where you occasionally time attacks in a quasi-rhythmic fashion, dodge when enemies are telegraphing their attacks, and hit a few "combo" attacks with companions. It's kind of similar Phantasy Star Online'south combat but more forgiving, and with a few more abilities to juggle.

The combo attacks are actually enjoyable, as your partner may suggest sure tactics to you from fourth dimension to time, granting an attack bonus if you lot fulfill their asking. Likewise, you can give them words of encouragement with the d-pad and raise your stats temporarily. It's all very simplistic, but the bright visual style and set on animations help add to the allure of beating up tons of enemies. Information technology's as well very true to the bear witness, even adding nuances like the "last hit bonus," where you're granting a bonus item if you finish off a boss.

Keep in listen though that Hollow Fragment does accept a superficial amount of depth. Although your characters do accept access to a number of abilities and strategies, most enemies and bosses can be whittled down past sheer force of volition with the same tactics. There is a level of customization to help bolster your fun though. Although Kirito's specialty is dual wielding, there are ten weapon types in all that you can switch to at will to suit your playstyle.

Just keep in mind that the game doesn't actually go that difficult until level 85. Most of your enjoyment is going to be via part play, where you lot purchase into the game's world, characters, and lore. Once more, it helps if you lot come into the game liking the prove so that you lot can bask the ride. You'll need that excitement if you desire to brand it through the roughly 50+ hour tale, because there's lots of grinding involved as you lot complete typical MMO kill quests to unlock floors and brand your way to the finish.

Things similar dating minigames, conversations between NPCs, and other sideshows ultimately help distract y'all from the dungeon-crawling nature of the game. There's also a New Game+ to keep yous going — then if you lot're looking for a lengthy RPG, this is information technology. Sadly, the simply multiplayer is a small ad-hoc (local) manner where y'all tin take a chance with friends in a limited mode.

Sword Fine art Online: Hollow Fragment is ultimately a base-level RPG, but if you relish the show information technology'southward definitely worth checking out. It's very close tonally to the anime and actually feels like a natural extension of the show inside and out. Merely don't expect a whole lot in terms of gameplay variety.

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Source: https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-sword-art-online-hollow-fragment/

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