Sword Art Online Discussion Thread

[Damius]

- Damn…Kirito was not able to catch the killer… he just teleported.
- When food falls on the ground…it disappears… Boo… the homemade Asuna’s sandwich.
- Yolko and Kains didn’t die… Never guessed that one.
- And here we have more PKers… Damn… Hope they won’t die for real this time.
- Ok…this is good. Kirito is there just in time.
- So Grimrock killed Griselda… Ouch…
- Asuna was able to find Grimrock!
- And he killed his wife for that reason… really?
- Kirito you absolutely need to accept Asuna’s friend request. Well, I don’t think he can refuse anything to her!

That was a really good episode. Asuna/Kirito bond grew and I hope it will grow even more.

[Damius]

Originally Posted by something

And oooh that Asuna ending illustration. Yay Buriki.

Why did CR removed it...Why?

[Fencedude]

I've taken over blogging SAO over at Sea Slugs!

This week: Asuna Faces!

[strangefour]

-You fools. Don't walk in there. That room takes you out of the floor zone into a burning circle boss battle.
-Run away! Run away!
-Oh they did get out of the boss's room. Huh. Guess this game doesn't have one way zone walls.
-Klein is still alive? Man. He must be the luckiest bastard on the server.
-How have these army morons lasted this long with that fight till you pass out attitude?
-Wow that really is a Burning Circle.
-Stop having flashbacks Kirito. These are old stuffy men. Not cute young girls.
-Heh. Asuna gets to be the rash hero jumping in to save the stupid brigade.
-Sweet. Kirito has a Limit Break. Err... I mean damn why he gotta be all Mary Stu Chuu2 yo. Dawgs. *cough*
-Okay murdering the boss all by yourself is kinda bullshit. Is Kirito 100 levels above everyone else?
-Hmm but it drains his health down to 1hp to do it?
-MORE DEBAN!

Well that was better than last time with the boob grab. That really cheesed me off. But Kirito going all Boss Beater by himself was straining credibility. Also WTF every damn MMO has a dual wielding ability. The beta testers would have pitched a fit if it wasn't in there in some capacity. Still the rest of the episode worked for me better than last episodes rabbit stew date did.

[Draneor]

So now we get the benefit of including the background stories that explained, a bit, about why Kirito has a strong aversion to seeing others die. I thought inclusion of the flashback was a nice touch. I also really enjoyed the contrast between the Kirito that abandoned Klein to his fate--back when the game launched--and the one who can't abandon his companions and strangers now. Overall, I think this part worked better than not understanding what went through Kirito's mind at this point in the novel.
I liked adding a brief Liz scene in there too. More Deban indeed.

Asuna continues to be love. I liked how she understood what Klein was trying to say without him saying it and also how she jumped in to save the members of the Army with no hesitation. Also, systematically testing out 1000s of ingredients over a year to mimic the taste of real world food...

The anime continues to elect to not info dump about the game itself. Most of it isn't really relevant, I suppose.

Originally Posted by strangefour

The beta testers would have pitched a fit if it wasn't in there in some capacity.

Most of the crap people bitch about in beta never gets addressed until post-launch anyway. There are tons of features that are standard that, amazingly enough, get left out of even AAA MMORPGS (let's not put in a group finder or a functioning AH). x class is widely overpowered? Not addressed. I may be a bit bitter.

[HitokiriShadow]

Yay, Lizbeth! <3
That was the best part of the episode.

Man, it sure was awesome when Asuna.... uhhhhhh, made food. And had Kirito take care of dealing with all the guys for her. Got to be the "irrational one" that ran into the boss room so Kirito didn't have to do that part. Had to be rescued immediately after landing her first hits. Did basically nothing else in the battle but block a sword once and distract it for a bit so Kirito could show how awesome his skill is. Then she gets to cry and talk about how scared she was about him dying, utterly bog standard "girlfriend" dialogue. Then she gives up her position of power and prestige that she had to have worked damn hard for. Then she's not even allowed to make that obnoxious decision for herself. She becomes a fucking thing being fought over by men and isn't even allowed to say anything they're discussing what she's chosing to do with her (digital, sort of) life.

Yeah, remember when we saw Asuna acting like an intelligent, confident, competent leader and player in that little pre-boss fight planning scene a few episodes? Would have been really nice to see anything remotely resembling that here.

Fucking hell, this is what I get for giving the show the benefit of the doubt. I understand this episode was about Kirito showing off and being a badass, but that does not being to excuse everything this episode did wrong.

[something]

Blah, CR delayed. At least it's not a perma-delay, like from the source station being back a week for good. I guess they didn't get materials in time. Well I'm not waiting, Saturday night is SAO time no matter what, so UTWoots it is.

Episode 9:

- Now it's time for our fearless heroes to ...run screaming and shitting their pants. Bwhahaha.

- Come back with a big party, guys.
- Asuna uses amusing stare. Kirito's secrets are revealed! Well, not quite yet.
- Instead, time for lunch!
- Asuna has cracked the code and can translate SAO flavors into real world flavors. Fearsome.

- Klein! Welcome back.
- And now some scrub guild with delusions of grandeur is going to march into the boss room and get slaughtered.
- Klein is kind of hilarious to listen to because when he's talking to Asuna it's exactly like Mutta trying to talk to Serika.
- Oh great. Sachi-related trauma is going to cause Kirito to do something stupid. Fight the urge, Kirito.
- lol instead it's Asuna who does something stupid first. But she manages to create an opening that saves a few noname players.
- Then... Kirito basically solos it. Even though the OP showed him and Asuna taking it down together. =/ Come on SAO. It was pretty cool for what it was, but I really hope we get to a "Kirito faces something is truly can't solo" development pretty goddamn soon. Force him to let other people help. And I mean for more than 10 seconds while he futzes around in skill menus. Anyway dual wielding makes sense if he's not going to use a shield.

- A skill only he can use? Cheater!
- So is Asuna just going to stay there hugging him through this entire conversation? Without talking? Or moving?
- They finally remember she's there. Okay wow that bothered me more than the fight itself.
- Liz~! So little deban. =(
- Then we set up more dueling to determine Asuna's fate for her. >_> Come on, can't it at least be a 2 on 2? You could test both Kirito's skill and their teamwork, which is (well, ought to be) just as important if they're in a 2-player party.

Sigh. I'm really glad SAO Vol. 1 wasn't a September release, since I already placed my September order. I thought for sure I was going to import this, but after the treatment of Asuna in the last two episodes, I'm back to being entirely undecided. I need something really big to change in that department in the next month or it's not going into my October order.

[ookamigirl]

Asuna really mastered cooking.
An unexpected reunion with Klein was nice.
This boss room was a special sort... especially hard.
All of Kirito's fears came to life again in this fight.
This fight was a close one, even for him.
I didn't really expect him to accept the fight for Asuna.
Guess there are some real feelings between those two.

[Buckeye]

I need to catch up on this show. Anyway, it turns out that there were no violations in regarding to PK-ing in towns, because there was no PK-ing to begin with. Yoruko and Kains faked their own death to draw out Griselda's killers by destroying their armor and using a teleport crystal. And the killer was none other than Grimrock by using other players to do the dirty work for him. Kirito delivers once again and was able to figure that out after dropping his sandwich.

It's great to see that none of those players were actually killed and that all this PK business was just an act. Not to mention, Asuna is back.

[Buckeye]

Kirito needs a new sword, and he meets the cute blacksmith Liz. Only one problem: no materials. Even her best sword is a toothpick compared to what Kirito has. So it's off to slay a dragon to get a rare alloy. Well, not quite slaying it, but falling into its nest and unearthing it. Of course, Liz falls for Kirito. Asuna is the one who told Kirito about her, and so as payment, Kirito goes only to her for equipment maintenance .

While there was not enough Asuna in this episode, seeing Liz do all that was great.