Accel World - FanFiction Discussion

[Tusjecht]

Originally Posted by Sunder the Gold

EBONY SALAMANDER

Color: A greenish blue so dark it looks black. (#0C0B1D, RGB: 11, 22, 29)

Spoiler for What's in the name?:

"Numerous legends have developed around the salamander over the centuries, many related to fire. This connection likely originates from the tendency of many salamanders to dwell inside rotting logs. When placed into a fire, the salamander would attempt to escape from the log, lending to the belief that salamanders were created from flames — a belief that gave the creature its name."

Ebony happens to be the name of a very dark wood.

The Ebony Salamander avatar is essentially a grappler, specialized for "close-range, direct damage" combat. Therefore, despite being on the smaller side of average height, it is heavily muscled and clad in tough armor. Its powerful musculature gives its slender frame great speed and agility. Its armor is only average compared to Bluish types, to prevent getting weighed down, but that's still plenty tough compared to all most others.

Salamander's basic weapons are the taloned gauntlets worn over his strong hands, as well as his powerful fanged jaws. Because of his unimpressive size and leverage, technique is required to make the most of his holds and strikes when he is faced with larger opponents.

Salamander has a limited activation skill called Fire Birth, which consumes Special Meter in order to superheat his entire body, sheathing him in flames. This naturally serves as a form of self-defense against grapples while also making his own holds and strikes more dangerous. Necessarily, Salamander has a greater-than-normal resistance against heat and flame, which increases when using Fire Birth.

His special attack is Flame Sigh, the same ability once possessed by Magnesium Drake. It is simply a middle-ranged flamethrower projected from the mouth. This requires and consumes at least half of a full Special Meter, or possibly a completely full special meter.


Level up bonuses can be spent on stronger striking or grappling attacks, strengthening his armor, improving his Fire Birth ability, or upgrading his Flame Sigh attack.

I don't have anything solid enough to note except for Flame Sigh: Flame Breath deals damage until the flames are extinguished. This could be useful for farming SP Gauge by burning the stage, or 'burn-and-run' strategies by setting the opponent on fire until he dies.

[Sunder the Gold]

Originally Posted by Tusjecht

I don't have anything solid enough to note except for Flame Sigh: Flame Breath deals damage until the flames are extinguished. This could be useful for farming SP Gauge by burning the stage, or 'burn-and-run' strategies by setting the opponent on fire until he dies.

Eh, maybe a different initial special attack? Some kind of grappling finisher?

The fire-breath thing could be a potential bonus choice, down the line.

[Tusjecht]

For something to chew on beyond Versus, I present to you Brain Burst Online.

[Sunder the Gold]

Originally Posted by Tusjecht

For something to chew on beyond Versus, I present to you Brain Burst Online.

Need to knock that first quotation mark out of your url code.

[Sunder the Gold]

Merging the worlds of Accelerated Japan (the Unlimited Neutral Field) with 1/10 of the Aincrad mountain/tower is interesting, but...

If you start on the floating mountain/tower's lowest floor, and the game isn't beaten by reaching the top floor...

Well, what's the point of going up, which was the major push of SAO? And what's the point of exploring the Unlimited Neutral Field, which in AW is the only place to grind against NPCs or dungeon-crawl for loot?

Changing the goal of the Death Game to "reach Level 10" and changing the Accelerated World into something you couldn't leave even if you wanted to.. it rather seems to dilute BOTH sides of the combination into meaninglessness.

[Tusjecht]

The Level thing is ambiguous. In chapter 2 I will raise this, when the self-assigned clearers debate whether it means to clear all ten Floors or reach Level 10. Don't forget that there is the level 9 Sudden Death Rule, which would put PvP into stagnation.

[Sunder the Gold]

Originally Posted by Tusjecht

The Level thing is ambiguous. In chapter 2 I will raise this, when the self-assigned clearers debate whether it means to clear all ten Floors or reach Level 10. Don't forget that there is the level 9 Sudden Death Rule, which would put PvP into stagnation.

But how is the field below different from the floors? Does the mountain/tower not have NPCs? Does the field not have NPCs?

[Tusjecht]

That, I haven't figured out yet. But there will be tangible differences between the Unlimited Field and Aincrad.

[Sunder the Gold]

Unfortunately, my last post should have gone here, but I got confused and misplaced it, and it was deleted. So I have to type it out all over again.


Basically, I keep going over ways in which abilities like Demonic Commandeer or Total Mimic could be made "balanced". Thinking of how DC compared to one of Lime Bell's post-anime attacks gave me an idea.


Take a Duel Avatar based around the strategy of "draining" or "vampirism". Someone with the power to steal an opponent's HP and SP, like Blood Leopard.

At Level 2, this player would get the option to choose a new special attack which works similarly to Demonic Commandeer, but which only steals "levels" rather than abilities. It could not take away Cyan Pile's Pile-Driver or Silver Crow's wings, but Pile would find himself missing his Lightning Cyan Spike and Crow would become a much weaker flier (from the loss of his Aviation upgrades).

Since the effect on the opponent is much less drastic than Demonic Commandeer, it might not require a full Special Meter to execute. It depends on how much SP Lime-Bell's post-anime attack requires.

The Level-draining attack would be completely useless against a Level 1 opponent, or else have a chance of inflicting instant death (from forcing them to "Level 0").

After stealing a Level from the opponent, the vampire may choose any of her own potential Level Up Bonuses. She increases her own strength rather than copying the abilities of her victim, but the power to choose her abilities allows her to adapt to situations in a unique fashion. Imagine if Silver Crow could choose to benefit from Thicker Armor or Radial Shot in some battles, rather than improved flight.

This versatility is far less reliable than having an ability from the start of the duel, however. Starting a fight with a gun is handier than getting a gun half-way through, and only if you manage to use your draining attack successfully.

This power is far more balanced than Demonic Commandeer because it can never allow the Duel Avatar to exceed their own potential. They can't ever have more Level Up bonuses or abilities AT ONCE than they should, even if they have some leeway in swapping them around.

Another thing that makes it more balanced is that the effect cannot last longer than 30 minutes and (If in the Unlimited Neutral Field) ends if the target leaves a certain effect radius or dies; the target is the source of the stolen strength, and the strength is lost if the connection is broken.

Further, the vampire cannot use the draining attack to effectively transcend her Level. She can only steal as many "levels" as she herself has invested bonuses into the draining attack.

So if she buys the attack at Level 2 and upgrades it at Level 3, she can steal two "levels" from one victim, or one "level" each from two different victims. Thus, she cannot violate the principle of "equal level, equal potential."



A similar ability would be the far more unpredictable "Roulette".

This would be another Level 2 special ability, but one which DOESN'T harm the opponent, and which may cost no Special Meter at all. In fact, it may trigger automatically upon beginning a duel, entering the Unlimited Neutral Field, or respawning after dying in the Unlimited Neutral Field.

"Roulette" causes Brain Burst itself to randomly select a bonus upgrade for that Duel Avatar, just as it randomly selects terrain-types.

You will never know whether you'll start a fight with a gun, or thicker armor, or faster running speed, and you'll be forced to familiarize yourself with multiple abilities that you can never count on actually getting to use. You allies will never truly be able to accurately fit you into team strategies.

However, your opponents will likewise never know what to expect from you, which makes you an unknown and dangerous threat. Everyone has to think twice about challenging you to a duel, because they can never be entirely sure that the fight will go favorably for them.

It's a double-edged sword perfect for risk-takers and gambling spirits.

Upgrading Roulette would allow it to select as many random bonuses as you have bonuses devoted to it. So buying it at Level 2 and upgrading it at Level 3 allows it to pick any two bonuses that your avatar could have had.

Of course, spending a level on a bonus upgrade normally will remove that upgrade from the random selection, and add a new choice to the slots.

[Tusjecht]

Spoiler for Originally posted by Gold:

Originally Posted by Sunder the Gold

Unfortunately, my last post should have gone here, but I got confused and misplaced it, and it was deleted. So I have to type it out all over again.

Basically, I keep going over ways in which abilities like Demonic Commandeer or Total Mimic could be made "balanced". Thinking of how DC compared to one of Lime Bell's post-anime attacks gave me an idea.
Take a Duel Avatar based around the strategy of "draining" or "vampirism". Someone with the power to steal an opponent's HP and SP, like Blood Leopard.

At Level 2, this player would get the option to choose a new special attack which works similarly to Demonic Commandeer, but which only steals "levels" rather than abilities. It could not take away Cyan Pile's Pile-Driver or Silver Crow's wings, but Pile would find himself missing his Lightning Cyan Spike and Crow would become a much weaker flier (from the loss of his Aviation upgrades).

Since the effect on the opponent is much less drastic than Demonic Commandeer, it might not require a full Special Meter to execute. It depends on how much SP Lime-Bell's post-anime attack requires.
The Level-draining attack would be completely useless against a Level 1 opponent, or else have a chance of inflicting instant death (from forcing them to "Level 0").

After stealing a Level from the opponent, the vampire may choose any of her own potential Level Up Bonuses. She increases her own strength rather than copying the abilities of her victim, but the power to choose her abilities allows her to adapt to situations in a unique fashion. Imagine if Silver Crow could choose to benefit from Thicker Armor or Radial Shot in some battles, rather than improved flight.

This versatility is far less reliable than having an ability from the start of the duel, however. Starting a fight with a gun is handier than getting a gun half-way through, and only if you manage to use your draining attack successfully.

This power is far more balanced than Demonic Commandeer because it can never allow the Duel Avatar to exceed their own potential. They can't ever have more Level Up bonuses or abilities AT ONCE than they should, even if they have some leeway in swapping them around.

Another thing that makes it more balanced is that the effect cannot last longer than 30 minutes and (If in the Unlimited Neutral Field) ends if the target leaves a certain effect radius or dies; the target is the source of the stolen strength, and the strength is lost if the connection is broken.

Further, the vampire cannot use the draining attack to effectively transcend her Level. She can only steal as many "levels" as she herself has invested bonuses into the draining attack.

So if she buys the attack at Level 2 and upgrades it at Level 3, she can steal two "levels" from one victim, or one "level" each from two different victims. Thus, she cannot violate the principle of "equal level, equal potential."

A similar ability would be the far more unpredictable "Roulette".

This would be another Level 2 special ability, but one which DOESN'T harm the opponent, and which may cost no Special Meter at all. In fact, it may trigger automatically upon beginning a duel, entering the Unlimited Neutral Field, or respawning after dying in the Unlimited Neutral Field.

"Roulette" causes Brain Burst itself to randomly select a bonus upgrade for that Duel Avatar, just as it randomly selects terrain-types.

You will never know whether you'll start a fight with a gun, or thicker armor, or faster running speed, and you'll be forced to familiarize yourself with multiple abilities that you can never count on actually getting to use. You allies will never truly be able to accurately fit you into team strategies.

However, your opponents will likewise never know what to expect from you, which makes you an unknown and dangerous threat. Everyone has to think twice about challenging you to a duel, because they can never be entirely sure that the fight will go favorably for them.

It's a double-edged sword perfect for risk-takers and gambling spirits.

Upgrading Roulette would allow it to select as many random bonuses as you have bonuses devoted to it. So buying it at Level 2 and upgrading it at Level 3 allows it to pick any two bonuses that your avatar could have had.

Of course, spending a level on a bonus upgrade normally will remove that upgrade from the random selection, and add a new choice to the slots.

Of the two abilities, I prefer Roulette over the vampiric attack. As it is though, the idea of exchanging level-up bonuses does seem intriguing. Such an avatar in the case of the vampiric ability type would probably be born from a wish to be more equal; a selfish sense of Robin Hood-style thinking maybe?

As for Roulette, the only thing that comes to mind is someone who takes life with a pinch of salt, willingly accepting all that comes...it does make one wonder what kind of trauma makes that kind of avatar.

On a side note, an AU idea has been at the back of my mind for a long while now: a huge spinoff of the 'what if' scenario, that the Kings at level 7-8 have to grapple with Chrome Disaster, and it is in that circumstance that Haruyuki becomes a Burst Linker.

I've dropped a thousand words into a planning doc, located here. Comments are permitted on the doc. Just would like to know what you think of it...

[Sunder the Gold]

For a combination of Accel World and Sword Art Online...


What if you took the tower-world of Aincrad, Death Game rules and all, but replaced the human avatars and Sword Arts with Duel Avatars?

Rather than "the Black Swordsman" Kirito, Kirito might be <<Black Swordsman>>, and Asuna might be <<White Flash>>.

Rather than Burst points, the system awards Experience points, but only for defeating Enemies. Killing other players can get you their Enhanced Armaments, but no XP.


Alternatively, there is no Tower, and the game is set in the Unlimited Neutral Field. In order to escape the game, the players must retrieve the Fluctuating Light from the Forbidden Castle.

But in order to even stand a chance, they must first clear the four cardinal dungeons that hold the first four Seven Arcs, and then make short raids into the central Castle to retrieve the final two Arcs.


In either case, since the Duel Avatars aren't actually expected to duel anything, not all of them need to be combat-specced.

Lisbeth, for example, could spend her Level Up bonuses on crafting abilities.

Unlike SAO, where you could max out all potentials with enough time and effort, this Death Game Accelerated World would force you to choose a specialization.


Some are stealthy, sneaky scouts. Others are battle-field healers. A few are crafters and item-enhancers...

Most have to be fighters. Tanks, DPS, Nukers.


It would be possible to drop Silver Crow into this game right alongside Black Swordsman, but inserting Black Lotus would be much different.

In such a game, Lotus and Crow would be starting at the same time, which greatly reduces the disparity between them.

Unless Crow spent a lot of the game cowering in the town of beginnings, before Black Lotus came to town and ran across him.

Perhaps Crow was out in the beginner's fields for his daily money-quest, and Black Lotus stumbled into his path with only a few Health Points remaining. Crow finds himself stepping up to the task of rescuing Lotus from the assassin who left her so weak.

[Sunder the Gold]

Idea:

As a lesser version of Orchid Oracles "Paradigm Revolution" (and something which is definitely not an Incarnate Skill)...

As a very high Level upgrade, a Duel Avatar with a passive effect that forces all Standard Dueling Fields to have the SAME environment, which is normally most advantageous for that Duel Avatar.

Like, if Lagoon Dolphin or Corral Merrow could ALWAYS force her battle stages to be The Sea. Or if Frost Horn could keep upgrading his Frost Circle so that he could eventually always gets to fight in the [Ice and Snow] stage.

Less drastically, Ash Roller would force his battle stages to ALWAYS have roads. No more sinking in random swamps for him!


Not sure how it ought to work in the Unlimited Neutral Field. Forcing a world-wide environment change every time the Duel Avatar enters the UNF would be ridiculous.

Probably, it would only effect the UNF out to a certain range, centered on the Avatar. And perhaps it ought to have a cool-down timer, so that after 30 minutes of effect is up, the effect cannot be activated again for another 30 minutes?

[Sunder the Gold]

Another Idea:

I proposed a "Numbing" passive effect much earlier in this thread; sort of like a poison that kept a victim from realizing that they were injured. Obviously more effective if used with an illusion that disguised the victim's HP Meter so they could SEE they were injured.

A possible upgrade to the Numbing power would be preventing the opponent from generating any Special Points from the damage they take from a Numbing attack, or perhaps from ANY damage at all.

[Tusjecht]

Originally Posted by Sunder the Gold

Another Idea:

I proposed a "Numbing" passive effect much earlier in this thread; sort of like a poison that kept a victim from realizing that they were injured. Obviously more effective if used with an illusion that disguised the victim's HP Meter so they could SEE they were injured.

A possible upgrade to the Numbing power would be preventing the opponent from generating any Special Points from the damage they take from a Numbing attack, or perhaps from ANY damage at all.

This idea reminds me of anaesthetics : P

Well, although not much is known about Blue Knight's 'Pain Killer,' it isn't much of a stretch to imagine it being applied as a passive ability, or possibly a side effect of an attack. Possibly, the avatar might go as far as to take the form of a venomous snake, and while the opponent doesn't feel pain after a successful strike, he would eventually lose control of his senses and body...

This is a good base effect to build on other abilities, maybe even an avatar in itself.

[Sunder the Gold]

I'm pretty sure Blue Knight's pain killer is something that lets HIM ignore pain. Which fits the "push past my own physical limits" attitude of a Pure Blue avatar which also has the ability "Surpass Limits".

[MeisterBabylon]

How do you guys tackle the Level 1-4 gap? Its kinda boring around there, since its effectively starter zone territory except with no quests and an plain grind. I find myself having a hard time writing something nice of it before I get into the UNF.

I could, but given that most of the story I planned for Gold Cub occurred in the UNF, I'm faced with a lack of inspiration.

[tuckersister]

Gray Moonlight (sometimes call "Moon")
Lvl 8

Real Name: Shiragetsu (only known name)
Gender: Male
Age: 16

Moon is both a long and close range duel avatar. He can create copies of himself and in huge numbers thanks to IS. However, his "copies" are weaker than him and serve as a distraction. He uses light-based attacks like Array, but also can "construct" his light into anything. Like Cosmos, he become invisible but only for a short time.

Attacks-
Moonblast: Basic attack. Can be fired by any of his constructs.
Red Moon: Strengthens physical attacks.
Blue Moon: Strengthens special attacks.
Yellow Moon: Reduce damage in half.
White Moon: Illusion ability. Confusions opposing DAs.
Clear Moon: Becomes invisible for a short time.
Phantom Moon: Able to make copies of himself. Though they're weaker.
Lunar Phantasm: IS offense ability. Huge burst of light to destroys anything in the given area.
Reqiures in use a mass of amount of the special gauge.
Lunar Blackout: IS defense ability. Blind field of vision of the opposing DAs. User is not effected
it.

[Sunder the Gold]

Originally Posted by MeisterBabylon

How do you guys tackle the Level 1-4 gap? Its kinda boring around there, since its effectively starter zone territory except with no quests and an plain grind. I find myself having a hard time writing something nice of it before I get into the UNF.

I could, but given that most of the story I planned for Gold Cub occurred in the UNF, I'm faced with a lack of inspiration.

It IS notable how the author tries to jump past that starter zone as quickly as possible.

Cyan Pile starts the story at Level 4, Silver Crow's journey to Level 2 is truncated and his rise to Level 4 is completely skipped over, and Lime Bell teams up with the stupid-broken Dusk Taker to form a stupid-broken tag team that lets her power-level right up to Level 4.

One has to wonder what the point of it is.

At least it serves the purpose of weeding out those players who would be less than serious about the game. There's no way that Utai could have made it to Level 4 if she was hesitant to hurt and e hurt by personally fighting and struggling against other players.

If anything, I sometimes wonder if Lime Bell cheated the designer's intent. Would she have been willing to fight and so thirsty for victory that she could have made it to Level 4 without Dusk Taker? If she wasn't fighting so hard to return Silver Crow's wings and remove Noumi's control, would she have eventually just quit?

However, the dog-eat-dog nature of the "starter zone" returns with interest at Level 9. But why have a period of relative peace between those periods? To make the harsh stakes seem even harsher by comparison? Yet, it's not something that anyone but Kings needs to personally worry about, and there's no way Silver Crow, Cyan Pile, Lime Bell or any beginner Original Character should be able to reach Level 9 without years of effort... Or without defeating lots and lots and lots of higher-leveled Burst Linkers. (And even then, the rewards and risks eventually level out so that hunting enemies is the only sound path.)


As for inspiration, what are your thoughts on Gold Cub's potential upgrades, the upgrades he chose, the rivals that follow him (or whom he follows) into the UNF, and the character flaws he needs to overcome? What are the lessons he needs to learn, or the goals he wishes to attain?

[Tusjecht]

Level 1 to 4 would be the familiarisation period for a newbie, obviously. During this period they're strong enough to win equal level duels on their own, but lack the experience for fights with Level 4s and above. And with a maximum of three upgrades, no access to the UNF, and still following the learning curve, they're not in much of a position to make full use of Brain Burst. Apart from filtering out the 'casual' players, would it possibly then, be an adjustment period while the newbie gets used to the concept of fighting to keep accelerating?

KYH calls the UNF 'the true battleground' for Burst Linkers, because if anyone is to efficiently learn new skills, techniques, and train themselves to be stronger, it has to be the UNF. Fighting in the normal field only extends your perception of time, so relatively speaking, ten consecutive duels would make your day 29 hours long; mentally, your body clock is being brought forward by five or more hours, because fighting is by no means an intellectually simple thing.

Most tellingly is that sleeping in the UNF refreshes your mind in the same way that sleep lets your physical body rest. There's no clearer sign that the UNF is intended to be the place for as much as 90% of a Burst Linker's lifetime. This integration of the fighting game (normal duelling field) and the MMO (UNF) is clear-cut. And even then I have second thoughts about labelling the UNF an MMO, because...well, it's almost as though you're invited to live there.

A virtual reality in which you can live forever, theoretically.

With that in mind, Haruyuki (and here I sense the author's insertion at work here) noted that his support for the goal of Level 10 came from his experience that games without an ending have no closure. Just like a long-running drama series in my country, with over five hundred episodes the end has no relevance to the start.

As of V13, there were four arcs ongoing at the same time, all commenced from and after V4: the Acceleration Research Society, Chrome Disaster, the ISS Kit, and Metatron. As of V14, only Chrome Disaster was resolved in V9, and the Metatron saga lasted from V11 to V14.

I don't mind if AW carries on for two or three volumes, excluding Side Story compilations just like V10. But if Haruyuki is actually made to go all the way to Level 10 at this speed, I will openly declare my frustration.

Character hardship and setbacks are good for development, but most of the focus has been on Haruyuki. From gaining his wings, the 5th Disaster, having Aviation robbed and returned, it's all about Haruyuki. SAO got one volume for Aincrad side stories by the 4th Volume mark, but not AW, which got its first side story compilation at V10. I may sound selfish for asking so, but I hope AW finishes fast and no further mechanics are sprung, if only to further demonstrate how silly the system can get.

(As posted in the Spoilers & Speculation thread, my judgement on Dusk Taker and Chrome Falcon were mistaken and will be explained later.)

tl;dr Kawahara needs to stop adding fresh avatars to break the system. Resolve the ISS Kit and the ARS, and briskly conclude AW, The Fluctuating Light, and Oscillatory Universe. Fanservice is overflowing, Takumu is suffering a little too much, and some avatars are now being left wide open after their one-time appearance.

Oh, and tuckersister. You're simply breaking the system even worse than Dusk Taker, Chrome Falcon, or Wolfram Cerberus ever did. The IS system isn't a mechanic to insert in every possibly type of attack because the controller's trauma is the absolute limit to the types of Incarnation he can use. A Red-type, who is timid and fears being hurt by the world cannot possibly use the IS types of Attack Power Expansion and Defensive Power Expansion because they can't even imagine themselves being that strong. Logically, a Blue-type that wishes to face his traumas head-on without backing down wouldn't even think of running away nor denying a problem exists; they deal with it.

Lunar Phantasm is a laughing stock anyway. IS attacks don't deplete the special gauge while in use; that's one of the two basic signs of Incarnation being used.

[tuckersister]

Sorry, still trying to understand IS. I still trying figure out how to make his background, given his duel avatar color. If he is gray, what would his personality and "scar" be like?

Lunar Phantasm may be a special attack not an IS one (I do agree it's a "laughstock"), but I'm trying to figure out what would be a good one without deviating from what he is. Maybe "Lunar Impact".

Gray Moonlight has a weak defense and uses his "constructs" to protect himself. Just to tell you, his avatar's ability is to "bend" light (hence how he could make Cosmos "visible").