Disclaimer: I'm being honest here, I tried my best here. I even have Silica and Leafa to support me...but I just can't. So if I missed some features, I'm sorry, I just can't get that far in the game. Leafa said there's PVP. But with the gameplay and low performance, I'd be surprised if the PVP is actually good...or even exist. So, here's my review.
Short version: If you're a fan of Sword Art Online...play Integral Factor instead...This game has stiff combat
like Integral Factor (or IF for short) but IF's combat is given a pass since it's an MMO. Graphics isn't too far
off either. This game screams unfinished and rushed for anniversary. If you have interest with this game, I suggest just keep logging in daily, get the launch rewards, after that wait for 1 year. By then, maaaybe the game will be finally smooth......I doubt it....Tales of Crestoria.....
Now, on to the Positives/Pros and Negatives/Cons.
Pros:
+ Graphics is actually pretty good. Could be better, but it's good. Each characters are expressive, that is, their expression is very visible, even more expressive than Genshin. Still, King's Raid has better 3D Model and is more expressive as well. Ok let me make this short, in terms of Overall Character Models ranking: Honkai Impact > Kings Raid > Genshin >= Punishing Gray Raven > Tower of Fantasy > Other 3D Mobile Games (including SAO VS)
I'm open to discussions on that one (the model ranking)
+ Amazing 2D Arts, they never had any trouble with that
+ Infinite Reroll, chance to get multiple SSR
+ Excelent launch day celebration login rewards. So even if you don't plan to play it NOW, just keep logging in daily and pray the game will get better later
Neutral:
+/- There's a home character, can "interact" with you, can be changed. Budget home character. Far outclassed by Honkai Impact. Outclassed by Blue Archive (even if Blue Archive doesn't have 3D, only live2D).
+/- Fixed Camera. Can't rotate around. I'm still ok with this, the camera angle ... works ... I still tend to instinctively try to move around my viewpoint ....
+/- Story not as engaging as Integral Factor, or even the original SAO. What's the best SAO story? Why, SAO abridged by KARF (Kirito is Always Right Foundation of course ~ Followed by Integral Factor. I'm serious.
Negative:
--- EXTREME LOW FPS. In combat, the game runs fine. But outside combat, the fps is just so low. It lags a lot.
Summoning takes 5-10 sec PER SUMMON SCREEN. So if you pull 10, that's around 30-60 sec PER SUMMON. Like why?? This is the first time I've encountered a terrible summoning session. Even the "skip" button takes 2-5 seconds to process...why?? And no, it's not that it's downloading resources for new characters/abilities. I got duplicates and it still take that long.
-- Loading, loading, loading. Too many loads. Somehow worse than Tales of Crestoria and Digimon Re Arise, famous as Loading Simulator.
- No Download All function. You know there's a prompt to download files upon starting the game for the first
time right? That's not all the files downloaded. The game downloads additional files when needed. And that happens frequently. Like Integral Factor. Be advised, play on Wi-Fi.
- Heats up the phone quickly. Genshin? Honkai? Tower of Fantasy? Epic Seven? Those games can heat up your phone, and makes sense, there's a lot going on there. This game? You VS 3 Goblins and no massive effects gives your phone high stress, burning it. Clearly not optimized yet
- Mediocore...actually, BAD launch summon. Not only was the summon/scout function not ready during launch, but once it's ready...it's just the standard scout with Kirito and Asuna having a higher drop rate? Like, really? No unique ones that's outside the standard scout (which will then be added to standard later)? No Alicization characters? Progressive? Integral Factor? ....why??
- Gets boring fast
So, to summarize, the game has an interesting concept. As with most Bandai Namco mobile game, the concept is there. It's the execution that's always the problem. If you like what you see and like what you played, and it runs smooth (who knows what kind of extreme high tech phone that can run this game smoothly) then good for you, have fun. BUT, if you like what you see and like what you played BUT runs poorly, then I strongly suggest just logging in
to get the launch rewards, then wait for 1 year. Again, it looks really clear this game wasn't meant to be released this year. It's name is SAO Variant Showdown, SAO VS. VS, Versus. It's clear they want it to be mainly for PVP. And it does look interesting. Think about it, a quick 3-5 minute action rpg combat, 1vs1 or 2vs2. It's a great concept. And I believe they can do it. Sadly, they look like they were rushed. The higher ups or advisors probably saw there's little to no major releases on November-December, so they pushed it. Will the decision work? I doubt it, but who am I to know?
Additional Note:
I still strongly suggest Integral Factor over this at the moment. If you're wondering if whether SAO has any good game at all, yes they do. Memory Defrag was extremely amazing. Fun and engaging combat, super smooth experience, doesn't heat up the phone, co-op play, and more. Unleash Blading was fun back then, but it's closing. Integral Factor's main strength is the story, it's simply amazing and the presentation is amazing as well.
Ok, that's all from me, thanks for reading.
Truth to be told i was expecting this thing sooo long by any rate its not a masterpiece or game of the year material .
My first though were yay another sao game it got hyped a bit not like cyberpunk but you feel me .
Pros
Nice to see all the band back together story its not that bad they could picked worst things
Graphics are ok there is a room for improvement depends on what device you are playing (i am playing at high and the game is smooth)
Fights are nice smooth i love them
Cons
Character models could have been way better but bandai i dont think gives a damn they love money way too much to make it better as a game
If you were experiencing this amazing game i am sure they did let you down but you should know thats how bandai works
Gacha rates well the classic bandai ones meh
have seen people say about the bugs , black screen , not connecting and etc well to be honest i had no problems at all i guess i am from the lucky ones
I have finished the game
I think game is a bit easy
Maybe they can fix many issues maybe they wont we will see lets have patient shall we?
Worth trying?
If you like 3d arcade arena fighting game with billboard/banner/Big window-like images as background and a fan of sao, also the game needing stamina to play then maybe.
I personally am not a fan of the mechanics since it's the main mechanics, would be fine if it was a mode since it can get old fast if it's not for you. It just felt lazy since there's nothing that stands out if you compare it with any existing 3d game with combat mechanics.
Targeting system isn't great, worse when there's tons of mobs. Dodge system isn't great, not very responsive when you press it. You need to do QTEs on boss, as in pressing things fast or you'll take dmg.
Combat feels very slow paced and stiff because the second skill is slow and dodging won't work when we're doing attacks in general. There's no block as well. Getting hit will get us staggered/knocked down and recovery from those is slow as well.
There's just tons of games with combat that does it better and make it more fun in general. Even saoif is better than this and it's quite old already.
All in all for me, It's a rushed arcade game with gacha. Can't even play it on phone emulators. The last time I tried binding my acct there's no way to bind with an email, you need twitter or that Line thing. Tranferring acct from a different device was said to have a cooldown of 42hrs (not sure if it's true).
i have been waiting for this game for such a long time,but sadly turn out disappointing
graphics: tbh,the chara looks like a moving cheap plastic action figure (even in high resolution)
sound: the opening theme song kinda nice actually
gameplay: its really simple for a 3d combat style,its fun at first but after playing for a while it become boring
story: the worst thing in this game,they really are just milking this series
value: this is one of the worst SAO game of all time, i cant believe they make this a special gift for 10 anniv of SAO
Day 1 experience is a bit disappointing after such a long hype.
I can play the game, (fortunately not stuck on start screen / notification like a lot of people) but the overall menu is laggy and not smooth. The camera during battle is confusing especially when there are a lot of enemies.
I do like how we get infinite rerolls in the beginning though. The card artworks and CGs are also good. The 3D models... not much.
Can't say much about the story yet. I hope in the future, the battle stages and monsters can be made more related to the story progression.
To be honest this game was kinda disappointing how Bandai is running this game. Even tho it’s kinda getting better the game is still suffering a bit. But the gameplay and graphics are pretty good I enjoy that a lot. But the gacha side. Well let’s just say it’s Bandai so we all know how it is. Rates were okay. Sadly when the game released there was no pity at all. But lucky there is now but it’s kinda expensive cus it’s Bandai. I really hope this game gets better cus I honestly was hyped for it but now I’m just disappointed but still if you enjoy sao try out the game it’s not that bad but it could be better.
I've been waiting for this game since it was released But now neither I or my friends are able to play because it gives an error in any case We also tried deleting the data and the game We downloaded data several times But it still gives an error
It's interesting that Bandai says this is a security error when none of us have any malware
The game developer does not accept that the problem is with the program and does not fix it!
Another mistake from Bandai after ruining the SAOMD , SAOUB games!
very disappointed😞I'm so sad i wanted to play an good sao game since sao MD closed but it will never happen.i was to existed to play this game but they are many beug and lag.Those sao mobile game isn't lucky.
i will changed my grade if they fix all the game problems actually I'm very disappointed 😞.
Playing on my Asus Rog 6 and everything is smooth like butter. Quite demanding game but if your phone can run Genshin Impact then everything should be fine
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