Sword Art Online

On the topic of MMO's and online games in general... there's an anime that started airing this summer season that has held my interest.  Sword Art Online will be a 25 episode series, adapted from a light novel of the same name.  The premise isn't that groundbreaking or new (as there have been other similar projects though I am unfamiliar with them), but it offers some interesting twists: 10,000 players of a new virtual reality MMO are trapped in the game when the creator reveals that the players can not log out until all 100 floors of the whole game are cleared.  Also, death in the game means death in the real world.

The game takes much influence from MMO and RPG games, though much more from Japanese style ones (Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star I believe).  Leveling, skills, items, guilds, and many other game elements would be familiar to most gamers.

There is already much controversy with the show's format, even though it's only 5 episodes in.  Apparently, according to those that have read the light novels (translations here, but I'm sticking solely to the show), the series has been adapting mostly side stories first, with the actual main story taking a back seat.  It definitely doesn't help that characters are seemingly skipping several floors between episodes.  Blogger Guardian Enzo describes it best as "SAO has a funny sort of narrative style to it – the anime anyway – where it seems as if things keep happening whether we’re watching or not, and we just happen to check in on them from time to time".  Still, I find the integration of game mechanics I can relate to and pretty animation worth the while of watching.  I'm really interested in seeing what will become of the players once they reach the 100th floor and what the game's creator has to say about it...

Asuna and Kirito

The 5th episode (spectacularly blogged by Guardian Enzo) is probably the best to date since the first episode in a line of one off side stories.  The narrative confronts the two main protagonists, Kirito and Asuna, and their budding relationship.  As two of the top players in the whole game, they have been advancing on the front lines to progress through the floors.  This episode presents some interesting elements regarding the game, and the human aspects behind them and any other game.

For one, Asuna devises a plan to lure out the boss to the village where it will attack the NPC's (non-player characters, essentially AI and NOT real players) while the players can then focus their attacks on it.  Kirito disagrees that they shouldn't do so, even though the NPC's will respawn.  Is Kirito getting too absorbed in the game, believing the NPC's to be real, or is there another reason?  From what I hear, there may be another reason, but the anime adaptation has yet to touch upon this game mechanic.

Another point is Asuna's insistence that they work around the clock to clear the game as opposed to Kirito's relaxed demeanor about it.  She argues that every minute spent in this virtual world is a minute gone in the real world.  However, Kirito believes that since this world is so real anyways, they might as well enjoy the beautiful weather, the calm breezes, and the changing seasons.  Funny enough, for this game, like in the real world, one has to "play hard and work hard".

Relaxation leads to the next element.  With such a game and the shocking reveal of finite death, many players have resigned themselves to living in towns and forgoing the whole adventure, leveling, and clearing aspect.  Still, many players band together to form guilds to clear what they can.  But like guilds in actual games, drama can arise and the worst in a person can be brought out.  The episode centers around some murders and disappearances over a rare and powerful item being found and a guild's indecisiveness over who would claim it.  Guild members end up disappearing and dying, and the mystery is the focus of this episode arc.  The mystery also brings up the possibility of the "fairness" of the game rules, and I think they'll hint at what the game creator will be up to in the end.

Last point I want to touch upon.  Although not mentioned yet in the anime, the characters' real life constituents are all apparently being treated in hospitals like coma patients, as the VR helmets they wear can not be removed.  By the 5th episode, 6 months have already passed in the real world.  In that time frame, any popular game would already be hacked or exploited to oblivion.  However, the game creator has stated that any tampering of the game and helmets would lead to instant death for ALL players.  Save all the players or risk them all dying?  Better leave it up to the players to clear the game then!

As always, below is a trailer of the anime, as well as the anime opening, which gives a good glimpse of what's to come.

There's obviously a lot more I can talk about, but I'll keep this post short for brevity. :)

Sword Art Online is freely and legally viewable on Crunchyroll.com.