Sword Art Online - Episode 8 Discussion / Poll

[frubam]

How exactly did Kirito win the duel? The way it was animated, Kuradeel(?) attacked with a straight slash downward, while Kirito attacked in an arc while the blade was behind him. I assume that's why Kura gave a little chuckle; he was in a position to hit first. Yet somehow, Kirito managed to hit his sword, when his swing pattern looked scripted as a horizontal slash at his torso. So are they saying that Kirito is that fast? Or was there a specific technique(i.e. a plan) he used to do this?

[Archon_Wing]

Attempting to discern the mechanics of a futuristic video game (and video games don't really correspond to reality anyways) is sketchy at best.

[Clarste]

Originally Posted by lightbringer

I'd like to point out that there are in fact numerous MMOs out there where you can kill anyone and then proceed to strip them naked of all equipped items (and in some instances even take the entire inventory contents). So while the duel interference was irregular, it's not really all that absurd. SAO has full collision detection from what we've seen (unlike most MMOs on the market today), especially when Kirito groped Asuna, and and Asuna made good use of that collision detection to interfere. The duel system lets them damage each other but it seems to have no effect on collisions.

SAO is basically one of those FFA take whatever you can games, but it also has strong protections in town. Players feel safe in town. Safe enough to relax. That's why the possibility of a new exploit to attack people in towns was so terrifying to both Kirito and Asuna, such that they'd put the front line on hold just to solve it. It's big deal to them, because it undermines the mental stress of every player in the game to think that they're not 100% safe in town (as long as they don't fall asleep in the street, but surely Sleep-PK initially triggered a similar reaction until they learned its limitations).

Collisions are certainly one thing, but we've already seen that attacking a player in town with weapons triggers purple "Immortal Object" barriers. Why should the player's currently held equipment be exempt from that? People's weapons are constantly materialized while they're walking around in town. If theft was even a minor possibility it'd trigger a panic among the players. Your hard earned sword that you spent all your money buying and upgrading suddenly getting stolen? No one would ever materialize weapons in town if it was like that.

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

Attempting to discern the mechanics of a futuristic video game (and video games don't really correspond to reality anyways) is sketchy at best.

It is precisely because games don't correspond with reality that we can discern their mechanics. Games are designed with purpose. Everything in the game is either there for a reason or an obscure oversight. Being able to interact with and remove other people's weapons in an area designated as "safe" is more than an obscure oversight.

I would have no problems with Kuradeel's dagger bouncing off her sword. Collision happens, and if Immortal Object came into play it'd likely be an even stronger impact. But disarming is something else entirely.

[NoemiChan]

Nice episode.. can't wait for the next development in episode 9... kinda fast paced but I'm happy as long as I see the two....

Wow... it seems the red guild has shown itself to day...

[Pocari_Sweat]

Well looks like I can finally stop calling this show Side Arcs Online now!

Pretty good episode overall. I really liked the first half of the episode where it was focusing on the everyday antics of the SAO world and we got some nice relationship development for Kirito x Asuna. I'm not really a shipper, but I did find it warm and cute . Though I did lol at the notion that Asuna did have to have maximum cooking, and she's a girl, and Kirito didn't even help out - he just stood there and watched so ... implied sexism there? .

The second half though I'm more critical. Apart from the obvious eyerolling boobgrab/tsundere moment (sigh...), I did not like the fact that Kirito had to take on the "white kinght" role to save Asuna from being brought back to her guild. I mean cmon! Asuna is a strong person, no need for damsel in distress syndrome.

Also, the fight scenes. I donno, but A-1 Pictures is a pretty damn wealthy studio (It's Aniplex's baby) and we are getting some of the cheapest and shortcut fight scenes in the game. It's not very visually cool to look at and SAO isn't some slice of life/drama show so I do expect some decent action scenes which I have been robbed off since post episode 2, which was the last time I got something visually pleasing action-wise. I mean it's a duel, and I want goddamn proper duel, not some sissy onestrike, slow-motion. This is a real duel for example (Seirei no Moribito episode 3 - spoiler warning).

Otherwise, it was still a pretty good episode and I'm glad that the main plot is back. I was really losing my patience.

[Lantern]

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

Well looks like I can finally stop calling this show Side Arcs Online now!

Pretty good episode overall. I really liked the first half of the episode where it was focusing on the everyday antics of the SAO world and we got some nice relationship development for Kirito x Asuna. I'm not really a shipper, but I did find it warm and cute . Though I did lol at the notion that Asuna did have to have maximum cooking, and she's a girl, and Kirito didn't even help out - he just stood there and watched so ... implied sexism there? .

To be fair, Kirito did imply that he doesn't have cooking skill... not much he can do there.

[Clarste]

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

I mean it's a duel, and I want goddamn proper duel, not some sissy onestrike, slow-motion. This is a real duel for example (Seirei no Moribito episode 3 - spoiler warning).

Can't say anything about the animation, but the choreography was obviously supposed to be one of those samurai movie style one-strike battles. Single-strike mode was even the name of the duel mode that Kirito chose (the anime didn't mention this, but the rationale is that this is the mode with the least risk of death since it automatically ends after one successful strike). Whether you enjoy it or not, the point was supposed to be that Kirito executed a carefully planned and perfectly timed feint followed by an attack on the enemy weapon. Which no one expected at all, given the commentary from the crowd and Kuradeel's claim that he cheated.

[Pocari_Sweat]

Originally Posted by Lantern

To be fair, Kirito did imply that he doesn't have cooking skill... not much he can do there.

Could have helped by laying out plates, cutlery, cups, tablecloth etc. I'm not putting too much blame on it though since SAO's main audience is male, and Japan is still relatively conservative when it comes to gender politics - i.e. females are still expected to be housewives etc

Originally Posted by Clarste

Can't say anything about the animation, but the choreography was obviously supposed to be one of those samurai movie style one-strike battles. Single-strike mode was even the name of the duel mode that Kirito chose (the anime didn't mention this, but the rationale is that this is the mode with the least risk of death since it automatically ends after one successful strike). Whether you enjoy it or not, the point was supposed to be that Kirito executed a carefully planned and perfectly timed feint followed by an attack on the enemy weapon. Which no one expected at all, given the commentary from the crowd and Kuradeel's claim that he cheated.

The point is that SAO aside from episode 2 has had consistently subpar combat scenes and it isn't like A-1 is short on budget either. The duel was just an example. I can also tell you that the fight scene with that random enemy mob at the end of the ep was poorly animated as well.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

Though I did lol at the notion that Asuna did have to have maximum cooking, and she's a girl, and Kirito didn't even help out - he just stood there and watched so ... implied sexism there? .

Generally speaking... in real life..

Man...hunts the food.
Woman...cooks the food.
...together with the children... they eat the food.

[Clarste]

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

The point is that SAO aside from episode 2 has had consistently subpar combat scenes and it isn't like A-1 is short on budget either. The duel was just an example. I can also tell you that the fight scene with that random enemy mob at the end of the ep was poorly animated as well.

I'm not defending the animation, I'm defending the choreography. It wasn't a "sissy onestrike battle", it was a classic samurai movie battle.

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

Could have helped by laying out plates, cutlery, cups, tablecloth etc. I'm not putting too much blame on it though since SAO's main audience is male, and Japan is still relatively conservative when it comes to gender politics - i.e. females are still expected to be housewives etc

Pretty sure the plates are all connected to the food items, and therefore in Asuna's inventory. This isn't reality, it's a video game.

[Pocari_Sweat]

Originally Posted by Clarste

I'm not defending the animation, I'm defending the choreography. It wasn't a "sissy onestrike battle", it was a classic samurai movie battle.

Sure, I'll let it slide then. Hopefully some of the latter fights won't resort to such choreography since I'm not too keen on it.

Pretty sure the plates are all connected to the food items, and therefore in Asuna's inventory. This isn't reality, it's a video game.

Didn't think of it that way, but it makes sense then.

However, I can't help but feel some "implied sexism" here in that Asuna was doing pretty much all the work whilst Kirito just stood there. Could have at least asked if Asuna needed or something even if she didn't.

[Kmos]

I just think of SAO (the game) as a game with faults, or intentionally so for the death trap/survival aspect. The setting's in the future so it should be pretty obvious by then some exploits shouldn't even be in the game. I still find fault with other user activation of your menu option of any kind. Maybe the author didn't spend much time thinking about the dueling aspects either or it wasn't seen much when he started SAO. Anyone outside the duelers shouldn't be able to interfere, isn't that the whole point of singling out people for duels? Barriers/rings and time limits good. I haven't seen enough duels in the anime to know how it is in this game. Outside healing/buffing in duels is just bad... I've seen MMOs do it, it's just ugh.

I don't understand the confusion of how disarming him isn't considered an attack... Weapons are an extension of a person's body. Asuna's participation is acceptable to me if there really is some thing about being partied, and a party member who accepts a duel also means she's 'in' the duel.

[zero7090]

hmm i didnt remember the dagger disarm scene in the novel but still it is possible if you think about a certain loli arc where some idiots in the 1st floor town pissed off *****. Even though they were in town **** can't hurt them but **** still can hit them. They took no damage but there were still the feedback which made them crumbled like pest.

[Krono]

Originally Posted by Kmos

Duel interference... only the people who accepted a duel should be in the fight. They're in a town aren't they? This isn't an open pvp area so if a bystander just walks into a duel they can deflect attacks cause of safe area rules? Asuna actually disarms the dagger with her rapier or whatever blade. Seems like another thing to be exploited or an anime fail? I'm anime only so dunno.

Anime fail technically. It's not something that's been directly stated to be impossible, but in the novel Kuradeel accepted the loss after the sword break. They might have been better served by having the attack simply be blocked with an immortal object message rather than going with a disarming.

[frivolity]

Y u no show us the stew????

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

I did not like the fact that Kirito had to take on the "white kinght" role to save Asuna from being brought back to her guild. I mean cmon! Asuna is a strong person, no need for damsel in distress syndrome.

I think someone addressed this already, but it certainly wasn't "Damsel in distress" at all. She needed to use the duel to prove that he was worthy of being her bodyguard. Of course she could have taken him on directly, but the issue was to prove she was in good hands so the guard would finally agree to go away (which she'd been wanting him to do anyway). She also agreed to let the guildmaster know later.

[bigmach]

Anyone know the name of the song that started on ep8 at 20:00? I feels very very familar to me.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by frubam

How exactly did Kirito win the duel? The way it was animated, Kuradeel(?) attacked with a straight slash downward, while Kirito attacked in an arc while the blade was behind him. I assume that's why Kura gave a little chuckle; he was in a position to hit first. Yet somehow, Kirito managed to hit his sword, when his swing pattern looked scripted as a horizontal slash at his torso. So are they saying that Kirito is that fast? Or was there a specific technique(i.e. a plan) he used to do this?

They both used Sword Skills, but Kirito's timing was better, and he was able to strike a weak point in Kuradeel's over decorated sword.

Originally Posted by zero7090

hmm i didnt remember the dagger disarm scene in the novel

Because it didn't happen.

[~Yami~]

excellent episode... near perfect maybe
I put a high score for this episode because of Kirito and Asuna interaction
well, Cradeel is someone who possibly can ruin this episode... luckily Kirito kick his ass in shameful way
I feel bad for Egil... ^^

I like how Asuna pushed her wish to have some 'romantic dungeon date' with Kirito
and how Asuna and Kirito shared their view to the current life after living nearly two years and complete 3/4 of the game
ah! we also get Asuna's and Kirito's blushing face...

please give me the next episode soon.... I know it's hard but I hope this duo can kill that "Baphomet boss" alone

[shakeofinfinity]

The beauty of mmo, food get cut up into pieces immediately by just touching them with a knife.