Sword Art Online - Light Novel Discussion

[willx]

Wow, this is turning out very exciting. I'm so looking forward to the rest of this arc. Has it been definitively stated anywhere that Alicization is the final arc or not?

[Rayrah]

Originally Posted by willx

Wow, this is turning out very exciting. I'm so looking forward to the rest of this arc. Has it been definitively stated anywhere that Alicization is the final arc or not?

It hasn't been "definitively" stated that it is, but it was the final arc in the web novel version, so it more than likely will be the final arc in the light novels, unless Kawahara plans on changing the ending.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Flere821

My bad I'm not up to date with SAO's progress on BT >.<

Here, have my impression of the 1st chapter of Chinese translation of Alicization Running as compensation (YES, it was done still reading this through right now, might post more tomorrow)

Spoiler for Impression of 1st chapter:

In the 1st chapter alone I've probably said "HOLY ****" a dozen times... if this is the last arc of the SAO LNs I wouldn't mind, as I doubt later events can top this arc.

Major events:
-Kirito's revealed to be 'kidnapped' by the JSDF in making combat AIs (basically what Project Alicization was about). They took Kirito as the chance to do so arisen from Johnny Black's attack, replacing the ambulance personnel with their people. Kirito's importance was his influence in-game can make the AIs who cannot deviate from the Underworld's laws into breaking them, something that the researchers can't do. Ironically it was breaking the rules to save another life, in direct contrast with their original problem of getting AIs around the law of not killing people. Major back-story about SAOverse's US, and how unmanned weapons developed from the US citizen's distaste of soldier casualties in Iraq, leading on from Vietnam and other military involvements. AIs are developed because citizens don't want to see human casualties.
In the beginning, JSDF wanted a independent weapon source from the US so they won't rely on foreign influence too much. VR was suggested like Kirito thought to train soldiers, but after SAO beta started true AIs was thought to be eventually possible. When players were stuck in game preparations were made for this project.

-Fluctlight is the device/program involved in this project. Supposedly capable of making a copy of a person's soul. Copies however are unable to handle they're just a copy, with the same memories and everything of the original. Human babies had their mind copied and using the first 16 as a base, each eventually paired into 4 pairs and giving birth to ten kids in each set, which eventually formed a population of 80,000.
The Seed is used to form the Underworld, and can accelerate 1000x the normal time. It's not the brain nerves being accelerated but the consciousness/soul, so supposedly no negatively effects like burning the brain out. Getting the kids to adulthood, 18 years, in Real time was only 980 hours (approximately one week).

Oh, and the ruling inhabitants in Underworld managed to access the 'laws of the world', manipulate what laws people can or cannot break. It's equivalent to game characters able to hack into your computer and make changes to the game. Skynet, anyone? >.>

-Asuna sneaked into the heavily defended R&D department/base by asking for help from the person who developed the Medicuboid (Kayaba's assistant). Found her address from Kirito's files. Said person was asked to be part of the project many times by Raase, and Asuna disguised herself as her assistant. Hacked the photo earlier and the real assistant is currently on holiday.

- Kayaba may still be alive. o_O His assistant didn't get charged with helping Kayaba because he implanted a bomb inside her that would blow her head off from the neck up. The assistant kept the 'bomb' as a keepsake, knowing Kayaba would have never used the bomb on her and only did that as a excuse so when the game is over she won't be blamed by the authorities. Final line in the 1st chapter suggested Kayaba's mind is in there and can still influence things, heating up and giving her a burn.

Spoiler:

so the company Kirito was working for is a front for the JSDF?

[kyp275]

Just finished reading myself

Originally Posted by novalysis

Spoiler for Volume 10 Questions:

Additionally, what about the civilian applications of Alicization technology? Surely the implications extend way beyond the military, and to the Economy itself, arguably the foundation of any nation's Political and Military might.

Also, did Asuna find a way to make it into the Underworld too?

Spoiler for answer:

atm the JSDF's main goal is the creation of practical combat A.I. for use with unmanned weaponry, there's no talk of non-military applications so far.

and no, while Asuna is at the main research facility, the real world portion of the story ends shortly after she arrives.

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Spoiler for My comments on the revalations:

I'm a bit disappointed by the JSDF being this assholish though, i was hoping for a more positive portrayal. Ah, well, could be a splinter faction.

Spoiler for answer:

yes and no, while they did "acquire" him from the hospitals (No one other than Asuna, Suguha, and Shino suspected anything was amiss as they covered their trail), it was also the only way to save Kazuto - he suffered brain damage from prolonged lack of oxygen, which apparently can be repaired by reviving his fluctlight through the Soul Translator tech.

Originally Posted by novalysis

And A.Is can't be more destructive than nukes already are.

Skynet would like to have a word with you

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

Spoiler:

so the company Kirito was working for is a front for the JSDF?

Spoiler for answer:

Basically yes, the place that Kirito worked at was just an off-site small laboratory.

Over all it's a good read, the story is up and running along just fine, and a lot of questions that people have from vol.9 should be answered.

[Netto Azure]

OH CRAP, IN ORDER TO GET THROUGH THIS WEEK'S WAITING FOR SAO, THE TRANSLATIONS FOR THE CALIBER - FAILURE TIMELINE IS OUT ON BT.

[/fanboys]

[astray71]

Originally Posted by Aphrah

It hasn't been "definitively" stated that it is, but it was the final arc in the web novel version, so it more than likely will be the final arc in the light novels, unless Kawahara plans on changing the ending.

So since volume 10 is the last volume in the Light Novel, is there anything decided on the KiriAsu relationship? Asuna's parents' thoughts? I'm sad to see it end... even though I've known about the series for about 3-4 weeks. Loved the SAO arc and all of its side stories.

[noobita]

So, Kirito finally found ajob that he likes? So, what's the salary range?

[Flere821]

Originally Posted by novalysis

Spoiler for Volume 10 Questions:

Also, did Asuna find a way to make it into the Underworld too?

Spoiler for Asuna:

No, she didn't get inside UW.

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Spoiler for My comments on the revalations:

So the JSDF kidnapped Kirito to use him to make AIs. I guess someone was watching Stand Alone Complex and realised that spontaneous AI development due to natural oil isn't reliable.

Also,going by what has been shown, it looks like Asuna's getting a chance to shine. Awesome.

I'm a bit disappointed by the JSDF being this assholish though, i was hoping for a more positive portrayal. Ah, well, could be a splinter faction.

Spoiler for Adding to kyp's explanation:

To be fair, the military had cutting edge medical equipment, if Kirito was treated at a normal hospital he would have been stuck in a coma for who knows how long. They took him at least half out of humanitarian reasons, the other half though, yeah they want him to help influence AIs.

Originally Posted by novalysis

Perhaps the JSDF did ask him directly in the Underworld. It's possible to sell the idea to him, if you told him that the aim was to cultivate friendly A.Is.

Spoiler for Actually:

No. Asuna figured out their plan was to make unmanned weappns and the AIs behind it, and Kirito has the same knowledge. According to Asuna, she had a conversation on the 56th Floor of Aincrad with Kirito about the rights of AIs and Kirito treated the NPCs in SAO like they were alive and had their own life. Kirito would have never agreed to help make AIs if there's a possibility of them being turned into weapons, and he actually cares about the rights of the AIs. The JSDF and Kirito's handler are of the opinion tens of thousands of AIs can die but it still can't match the value of a real human's life (AIs life isn't 'real' in their view), but Kirito might disagree. Other front line fighters in SAO laughed about this when Kirito mentioned his views, but even so Kirito still believes that.

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

Spoiler:

so the company Kirito was working for is a front for the JSDF?

Yes.

[kyp275]

Originally Posted by astray71

So since volume 10 is the last volume in the Light Novel, is there anything decided on the KiriAsu relationship? Asuna's parents' thoughts? I'm sad to see it end... even though I've known about the series for about 3-4 weeks. Loved the SAO arc and all of its side stories.

err, vol.10 is not the last volume. People who have read the Alicization arc says it isn't likely to be concluded 'til vol. 14 at the earliest. As a matter of fact, much of vol.10's Underworld portion of the story wasn't even in the web novel, Kawahara wrote in extra material to expand the story that was passed over by a time skip.

Originally Posted by noobita

So, Kirito finally found ajob that he likes? So, what's the salary range?

it was a part time job, so probably not very high :P

[Netto Azure]

Originally Posted by astray71

So since volume 10 is the last volume in the Light Novel, is there anything decided on the KiriAsu relationship? Asuna's parents' thoughts? I'm sad to see it end... even though I've known about the series for about 3-4 weeks. Loved the SAO arc and all of its side stories.

Actually no, Volume 10 is PART of the Alicization Arc. SAO is expected to go on up to Volume 14-15.

Caliber-SS route was a fast read. It's short, but illuminates some things.

Spoiler for Caliber-SS route thoughts:

Finally read this good stuff. Now we get a few confirmations on some things.

1. The "Gods" found in the end of Caliber are actually GM's, so Klein could now be shipped properly. :3

2. This was "all a dream" meaning something of a prelude to Alicization's Fluctlight tech. Or more than likely a foreshadowing/warning in one of Kirito's memories.

3. Aincrad is apparently "The world of Humans" or what was mentioned as "Midgard."

4. LOL this whole entire scenario was due to the quest generation powers of Cardinal being accidentally put into accelerated mode by a new GM.

5. The company that owns ALO nowadays is called "Ymir." LOVE U FOREVER RAGAROK ONLINE. <3

But yeah this was all a fun read, would be nice to find out more about the "golden apple" and the completion of the second quest. I've been wanting to see a full scale server wide battle with all the 7 Fairy races working together anyways, just like Kirito wanted in Fairy Dance. :3

[TJP1600]

Yay, time to look through the Chinese translations. Those Japanese to Chinese people work fast but it sounds so terminology heavy that I think I'm going to dread it. There better be some good romantic moments because from what Flere said it seems quite actiony. And tbh SAO should probably end after this volume(at least within 2 volumes), imo i feel like this whole story is being dragged on too long

[Axiszero]

Wow i mean just wow for SAO vol 10

Spoiler for Reactions:

Firstly i would like o funk Red's for the spoilers, thx man
Secondly, i mean why do you think A.i. are called such i mean sure in certain senses they are a bit stupid in some games like L4D2 but yah they still have rights because in a sense they have a right to exist because they are unique existance similar to us unique to our own world
Thirdly, Incarnate system, although incarnate was clearly present, I just felt something was different IDk what it it is maybe it was the phrasing

[kyp275]

Originally Posted by TJP1600

Yay, time to look through the Chinese translations. Those Japanese to Chinese people work fast but it sounds so terminology heavy that I think I'm going to dread it. There better be some good romantic moments because from what Flere said it seems quite actiony. And tbh SAO should probably end after this volume(at least within 2 volumes), imo i feel like this whole story is being dragged on too long

eh, it's not that bad, though there isn't much romantic elements in this volume.

and if the web novels were any indication, chances are there will be another 3-5 volumes just to conclude Alicization, it's by far the biggest arc in SAO.

Originally Posted by Axiszero

Wow i mean just wow for SAO vol 10

Spoiler for Reactions:

Firstly i would like o funk Red's for the spoilers, thx man
Secondly, i mean why do you think A.i. are called such i mean sure in certain senses they are a bit stupid in some games like L4D2 but yah they still have rights because in a sense they ave a right to exist continued later

You mean why A.I. are called A.I.? if so then that's because... that's what they are, Artificial Intelligence. It's like wondering why humans are called humans...

[Rayrah]

So, um, why is chapter 16.5 no longer up on BT? s:

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by Aphrah

So, um, why is chapter 16.5 no longer up on BT? s:

The BT page's update section says it was deleted for now and refers to a link to a forum discussion page for why, but I didn't really see anything on that discussion page that warranted getting rid of the chapter translation. Unless they deleted it because the discussion on the forum page talks about how it wasn't actually the author's work? (I think)

The forum discussion page in question as linked on BT's SAO page.

[Wild Goose]

Meh, if anyone wants it, the Epub version that Simon (BT forumite) put out has 16.5 merged in Chapter 16 proper, which is why I initially thought it was part of the published release. If anyone wants it... I suppose I could provide delicious copy pasta.

[Rayrah]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

The BT page's update section says it was deleted for now and refers to a link to a forum discussion page for why, but I didn't really see anything on that discussion page that warranted getting rid of the chapter translation. Unless they deleted it because the discussion on the forum page talks about how it wasn't actually the author's work? (I think)

The forum discussion page in question as linked on BT's SAO page.

Aha. I see.

Apparently it's because some people felt it wasn't appropriate for Baka Tsuki, amongst some other things. And that's fair enough, I suppose.

It's still canon in my eyes. *shrug*

[Awrya]

Last time I checked it was moved from Vol. 1 to side stories, now it has been deleted? It has been around for a long time, so most readers know 16.5 by now.

Just finished Caliber SS, now I'm with the 'Klein-san's so cool!' faction, he saved two worlds, Alfheim and Midgard

[Netto Azure]

Originally Posted by Aphrah

So, um, why is chapter 16.5 no longer up on BT? s:

It was sacrificed for the sake of volume 10.

And that apparently they "are translating the light novels and not the web novel" xD

But otherwise it's not much of a loss, probably will become an inside joke that divides the LN and new anime fans lol. Hell glopping is becoming a forced meme of all things.

[novalysis]

I wonder how the JSDF are going to ensure that their A.Is don't turn upon them. Failing to recognize A.I rights is a surefire way to create trouble down the line. Plus, who are they going to send those A.Is up against? Somali Pirates? Terrorist Groups? Surely not the Koreans or Chinese, nor the Russians, war in East Asia would likely end up in local mushroom clouds that'd knock 10 years off the regions' development at least, and likely would lead to the toppling of most of the region's governments. A.I or no A.I.

In my view, Kirito is right. A.I rights need to be established as early as possible, else humanity is going to be in a world of hurt down the line. The biggest thread to the SAO world are A.Is who end up hating humanity.