Bandai Namco, alongside Dengeki Online, held a stream for Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris and the anime SAO Alicization War of Underworld on February 12. We learned a whole lot more on both the game and the anime, and new trailers were published as well.
The stream featured:
- Yousuke Futami, Bandai Namco Producer
- ReoNa, singer who handles the game’s and the Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld anime’s opening theme songs
- Miho Okasaki, seiyuu who voices Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris original character Medina Orthinanos
- Masami Niwa, Producer of the Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld anime
- Dengeki Online’s staff
After some banter and chat, we first got to see a short trailer for the 2nd cour of the SAO Alicization War of Underworld anime, airing this April:
Next, they reconfirmed ReoNa is singing the opening theme song of Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, titled Scar/let. ReoNa is also handling the 2nd opening theme song of Sword Art Online: Alicization War of Underworld, titled Anima. If you’re a fan of ReoNa, she chatted a lot about both songs starting 27:40.
Once the anime corner was over, we learned more details on Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris. We first got a reexplanation of the game’s story differences with the light novel and anime. Producer Yousuke Futami explained the game’s story starts the same, with Kirito and Eugeo’s first meeting, and covers Kirito and Eugeo’s story. However, the story differs starting the point corresponding to episode 24 of the SAO Alicization anime.
Producer Yousuke Futami most notably said the first part of SAOAL is so long it wouldn’t hurt to make it slightly shorter. They are currently undecided on to whether cut down some parts or not. Futami said he was debugging the game the day before the stream, and after playing eight hours of Kirito and Eugeo at swordsmanship school, that part still wasn’t over. At the same time, this allows the game to show many sides of Kirito and Eugeo’s life we didn’t see in the anime, so it might stay this way.
We also got introduced to two new weapon types. The first one is the two-handed sword, which works like most two-handed swords in games, powerful but hard to master and easy to get counterattacked. Bercouli is one of the characters using two-handed sword-type weapons. Next, we have the Dagger, specialized in anti-air and speedy attacks. The sisters Linel and Fizel both use dagger-type weapons. Bercouli and the Integrity Knights seen in the trailer further below are playable starting the second part of the game.
Next, we have new details on Medina Orthinanos. Her seiyuu Miho Okasaki explained she’s super cheerful and girly, but changes completely when she starts fighting.
Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet recently got a free update. If you clear the Abyss Dungeon’s fifty floors, you can see a secret movie featuring Medina from Alicization Lycoris. Since not everyone owns the game or can clear the dungeon, they showed the trailer on the stream:
Next, new fields and locations appearing in the game were revealed:
Yousuke Futami explained Alicization Lycoris‘ story happens in all of the Human Empire and doesn’t feature the Dark Territory. We’ll see the north, west, east and south parts of the Human Empire in the game. We’ll get to know later who the Human Empire is figthing against in the second part of the game.
The game’s cities have shops and facilities to buy, craft, and upgrade your equips.
In battle, when the Arts Gauge is full, you can use it in three different ways. First, you can use the gauge to activate a Finish Art, an ultimate attack unique to each character. Second, you can use the gauge to trigger Super Arts, this lets you use any skill you want without spending SP until the Arts Gauge runs out. Lastly, you can use the full Arts Gauge to trigger Ally Skills, where you’ll be able to chain skills with all party members.
Newt, we got more details on the Tactic Emulating AI System (Technical Recording System in Japanese). This lets you configure the AI of the characters, letting you raise them and making them stronger. You can either control the characters yourself and make them remember the way you played, or let them grow naturally as you play.
We learned on this stream that players will be able to share AIs online with each other. Moreover, when configuring an AI, a lot of the processes can be automated. Players who don’t wish to spend too much time on the Tactic Emulating AI System can just use the auto settings or find a player online who made strong AIs and copy them.
The AIs you make can be coupled with the characters you create and customize online. These characters will then appear in Underworld as adventurers. You can actually meet them while exploring and ask them to join your party.
When copying an AI created by another player, this player will get items in return too. For example, you can play the game by raising AIs specifically made to be strong against specific bosses, and let other players copy them to get a lot of items.
Producer Futami also explained how each character has a specific personality type, which will be more and more apparent as you raise their affection level. This makes them stronger as well. This is probably how you unlock bed scenes with the characters too.
Lastly, we got to see ReoNa play SAOAL too for around 7 minutes of gameplay. This is included below along with a longer version of the game systems trailer revealed a few days ago.
You can read more on Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris with our previous coverage: We’ve seen the Alice and Asuna first meeting cutscene, we’ve got the previous trailer, some Asuna battle gameplay, the winning entries of the costume designing contest, a story trailer, more gameplay with Medina, and more on how the battle system works. SAOAL also keeps the traditional bed scenes of the previous games, and we’ve seen bits of one with Asuna and one with Alice. You can also check out our pal Azario Lopez’s preview of the game.
Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris will launch on May 22, on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. If you’re hyped about the game, like our coverage, and wish to support DualShockers, you can preorder Alicization Lycoris via Amazon.
The post Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris: New Gameplay, Trailers, Battle System Details and More by Iyane Agossah appeared first on DualShockers.