![]() You have to be constantly swapping between palettes and item list, and at the same time having an eye your your partner’s situation. The second thing is the perfectly balanced difficulty, which makes battles really rewarding. This is thanks to several things, the first being the thunderous boss battle theme that makes confrontations tremendously dynamic. Note that the environments are a lot more refined, and level design improves a lot.īattles had become increasingly intense in the last stages of Aincrad, but here in the Hollow Area, they’re pure enjoyment. The game helps out a bit but not too much, which leaves you really searching your way forward and think like you should always do in a correct JRPG. Navigating is pretty tricky as the rough map you have at your disposal is about as precise as a pirate’s treasure map, and just going trough a couple of zones takes hours. The comparison with Xenoblade is clear, «exploration» becomes the keyword. The Hollow Area is organized very differently from Aincrad : it’s a very large surface divided into smaller areas you to clear one after another. Events are a LOT more focused on fan-service than the anime’s average, which you can easily figure out from the numerous beautiful and juicy illustrations. And when I say a lot, it’s nearly a dozen per floor, with sometimes sub-quests that will make you go back looking for special things in previous floors. ![]() There is no logic to infer like you would you do in a real dating sim.įortunately, the game includes a lot of events really close to the anime in terms of humor and atmosphere. That said, the dates are nothing exciting because there are precious few topics and the answers are completely random. You can still spend a bit of time with your harem for a change, sitting at the café with whoever you want to have a little chat. There is no proper «exploration» and puzzles are scarce. True, it’s pretty large in total, but most of time you’ll be going from point A to point B. The level design is nothing special, the floors look like each other too much. Climbing your way to the 100th floor feels a bit humdrum : at every floor you’ll have to complete unappealing sub-tasks while in search for the boss’s room, and then beat the boss itself. Technically speaking, the game is not even average : the 3D are neither that good nor that bad, animations are kinda stiff, and the game has quite a few annoying frame rate drops and graphics bugs. You’ll have to wait to have at your side partners at respectable level and in front of you some really though enemy if you want to experience the thrill of battle like it was thought by the devs. Furthermore, most of the fights can be done with only pushing the circle button and waiting for some sign from your partner. They naturally reach Kirito’s level as you progress in the game, but it causes lots of irritating game over in the first hours. For example, Kirito starts at level 100, Silica only at lvl 70. But the biggest concern about them is that they are fairly weak at the beginning of the game. The IA of the girls tend to ignore the situation time to time, stopping for no reason or ignoring your switchs. While it seems attractive on the paper, the execution is not always good. You therefore have to ask your partner to «switch», which sends her/him on the front without cover, but recovers the risk. ![]() You also have to watch a «risk» gauge : the higher, the less effective your normal attacks will be. Your partner will regularly ask you to perform certain actions (attack skill, switch, paralyze the enemy) by which both characters will launch a powerful joint attack or relay. Two are for giving instructions to your partner (retreat, defense, offensive, congrats, etc.), one regroups your attack skills and the last two your healing/support magic. During battles, you have five palettes that you can switch between with L and R. The game mechanism is close to Xenoblade’s in the way there’s an auto-attack and cooling down when you use some skills. You always play as Kirito, while having in your party a girl (or a man, for that matters) controlled by the AI. It’s at the same time an extension and an alternative ending to the first part of the anime. For those who are familiar with the chronology of SAO, Hollow Fragment starts when Aincrad ends.
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