[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Surely, there was basically no foreshadowing that Kayaba would be in ALO at all. The guy was basically unaccounted for, with a very high implication he died. There wasn't really any indication he was trying to put himself in his game, especially he didn't display any regrets or longing for "living the dream": he stood there, more or less content with his life work.

I actually didn't assume that he died there, for what it's worth. I thought it was too suspicious a disappearance, despite him being satisfied with his life's work. If they had mentioned previously that he was found dead, I would have accepted it... but I always figured he'd show up again somehow. So to me, at least, I assumed that he lived. After all, both Kazuto and Asuna lived.

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Then, having his AI, but ALSO his account being accessible, which had the very access to the core of ALO, a modified copy of SAO that was existing 1 year before Kayaba actually put his own AI copy plan in execution make the whole thing plainly lampshaded instead of foreshadowed.

Well, I'm not sure how strongly this holds up, but let's consider what happened to Yui. She was an AI residing inside of Kazuto's NerveGear, and her "account" was recognized and given a certain amount of access privileges when she entered ALO. So, if we assume that Heathcliff/Kayaba was similarly residing in Kazuto's NerveGear, the system could recognize him for who he is and give him the privileges he deserves (because ALO is a copy of SAO after all). The fact that Yui, an object, could be given some limited privilege sets a precedence for this.

Like I said before, I realize that's totally para-text, so just a theory. Perhaps I've forgotten something that causes it to not hold up.

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Really, the only "possibly" foreshadowing part was the mere mention of ALO being a copy of SAO. Past that, Kayaba and his account being there are just... not hinted. Really, expecting Kayaba to save the day there would be a random theory than really established from facts and assumptions, but that's me I guess.

It surely is a plot twist, but it was apparent there had to be one from the nature of the "hopeless" situation. (Why create such a hopeless situation in the first place if there's no good way out... well, yeah.)

I suppose you could also form an even crazier theory -- that really what happened is that Kazuto exceeded the limits of the programming again, as he did in SAO, and he only "imagined" Kayaba being there as a sort of delusion. The World Seed may have been already in his possession the whole time unknown. (To go back to my previous point, I guess Kayaba could have resided in this Seed that Kirito already had?)

I totally understand that there is no coherent explanation, so we're left to resort to theories, and that isn't satisfying from a narrative point of view. But I do like theorizing anyway.

Originally Posted by Klashikari

I would have had far less issues if Kazuto was assisted by Kayaba the very moment he was in ALO in a subtle way (like mysterious messages, hints, items appearing that help Kazuto etc). But here? nothing, absolutely nothing but a bystanding god that was watching a chess match between kazuto with a single pawn against an army of queen from Sugou, then Kayaba table flipping the chessboard to forcefully put Sugou's king into a "divine checkmate".

Won't disagree with you here. I suppose you can interpret some of the odd things that did happen as the "hand of god", but if that's really what they were going for, they could have made that a bit more clear.

Originally Posted by NaweG

Of course as with discussions of the "holographic" universe the question becomes whether what we think we mean by this is what it actually means. Still, if we are in a virtual reality of sorts, and arguing about how realistic a virtual reality can be...

We need to go deeper?


(Honestly, the thing I appreciate most about this show is the fact that we actually can have these sorts of conversations. To me, it's a story full of interesting ideas, even if the specific plot and execution is sometimes questionable when taken on its own.)